The African Union (AU) has recommended Ghana’s Gold Board (GoldBod) as a model for other African countries seeking to increase the value derived from their mineral resources and strengthen their economies.
Madam Francisca Tatchouop Belobe, the AU Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, said Ghana’s experience demonstrated how mineral sector reforms could improve foreign exchange earnings, strengthen international reserves, support currency stability and enhance economic resilience.
Madam Belobe was speaking at the second edition of the African Minerals Policy Forum, Mining in Motion 2026 (AMPF-MiM), which opened in Accra on Monday.
She described the GoldBod initiative as a valuable lesson for the continent, saying the AU was looking forward to sharing Ghana’s experience with other African countries.
“Your Excellency, President Mahama, thank you for the lesson we have learned from Ghana. And we are looking forward to bringing this to Africa, from Ghana for Africa,” she said.
Madam Belobe expressed concern over Africa capturing only a small share of the value generated from its mineral wealth, despite possessing an estimated $29.5 trillion in those resources and nearly 30 per cent of the world’s critical mineral reserves.
She said the continent needed to move beyond exporting raw minerals to developing processing, refining and manufacturing industries that created jobs and retained wealth locally.
The GoldBod was established in 2025 to regulate Ghana’s gold trading industry, particularly the purchase, aggregation and export of gold from the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, with the aim of improving oversight and retaining more foreign exchange earnings from gold exports.
President John Dramani Mahama, addressing the conference, highlighted the board’s achievements, noting that artisanal and small-scale mining gold exports increased from 64 tonnes in 2024 to 104 tonnes in 2025.
The increase, he said, was attributed to GoldBod’s regulations on small-scale gold exports, which helped generate $10.8 billion in export earnings in 2025, compared with $4.66 billion in 2024.
President Mahama said the board was also focusing on financing artisanal and small-scale miners to adopt technologies that would reduce environmental destruction.
He said Ghana was targeting an end to exports of unprocessed mineral ores by 2030 through phased restrictions backed by legal measures and implementation timelines.
Mr Jeremiah Koung, Vice-President of Liberia, called for common principles on mineral development that respected the circumstances of individual countries.
He said regional infrastructure, reliable geological information, transparent mineral agreements, community benefits and responsible artisanal and small-scale mining should be priorities for continental cooperation.
Last week, GoldBod reported generating US$1.871 billion in foreign exchange in September 2026, exceeding its monthly target of US$1.4 billion.
Of that amount, US$701.3 million went to authorised commercial banks and US$1.170 billion to the Bank of Ghana for reserve accumulation.