President John Mahama has commended the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) for its contribution to the growth of gold exports, increased foreign exchange earnings and efforts to promote responsible small-scale mining.
Speaking at the Mining in Motion Conference, the President highlighted an increase in gold exports from the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, alongside measures to reclaim lands destroyed by illegal mining and improve monitoring of mining equipment.
“I wish to commend the Gold Board for the successes that it has chalked,” he said.
President Mahama said Ghana exported 64 tonnes of gold from the artisanal and small-scale mining sector in 2024. In 2025, the country exported 104 tonnes from the sector between April and December, following the establishment of GoldBod in April.
He said the regulation of small-scale gold exports had also contributed to a significant increase in foreign exchange earnings.
“And I’m happy to note that the Gold Board in 2025 alone, with the regulation of export of small-scale gold, brought into this country $10.8 billion, which is an almost 100% increase over the $4.66 billion that came into the country in 2024,” he said.
The President’s remarks come as the government seeks to strengthen the regulation of gold trading, increase the economic benefits of the mining sector and address the environmental damage associated with illegal mining.
President Mahama said the government had made progress in removing illegal miners from nine designated high-risk areas, with work now underway to prepare the affected forest reserves for reclamation.
“I’m happy to note that of those nine red zones, we have cleared all of them of illegal miners and are currently preparing those forest reserves for reclamation,” he said.
He said that illegal mining had destroyed approximately 12,000 acres of land across Ghana, making the restoration of affected areas a key priority.
The President commended mining company Newmont for its reclamation work, saying it had restored almost 800 acres of mined-out land and planted useful crops.
He also praised GoldBod for awarding the Ghana Armed Forces a contract to reclaim 253 acres of land damaged by mining activities in the Tano-Nimiri Forest.
“The Gold Board has awarded the Ghana Armed Forces a contract to reclaim 253 acres of land destroyed in the famous Tano-Nimiri Forest. That work is ongoing,” he said.
President Mahama further commended the Ministers of Lands and Natural Resources and Finance for allocating GH¢200 million towards the reclamation of 5,000 acres of degraded land, with the work expected to begin in 2027.
The planned restoration forms part of broader efforts to repair environmental damage caused by illegal mining and protect forest reserves from further degradation.
The President also outlined measures to strengthen monitoring of excavators and improve oversight of mining activities across the country.
He said 6,060 excavators had been registered and detained at the ports, while 2,059 had been fitted with tracking devices to help authorities monitor their locations and use.
The tracking system is intended to help the authorities identify where the equipment is being deployed and strengthen efforts to prevent its use in illegal mining operations.
President Mahama also said 11 cooperatives had been trained in new mining methods and were now operational.
He added that GoldBod was financing small-scale artisanal mining operations to adopt technologies designed to reduce environmental destruction.
The initiative is intended to support miners in adopting improved methods while reducing the damage associated with mining activities.
President Mahama said the government was also allocating funds to strengthen efforts to tackle illegal mining and protect the country’s water bodies.
He announced that GH¢200 million had been allocated in the 2027 Budget to support the activities of the National Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Illegal Mining (NIMOS) and the Blue Water Guards.
The funding is expected to support enforcement measures aimed at curbing illegal mining and protecting water resources from pollution and degradation.
The President also announced plans for a major reafforestation initiative involving the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and the REDD+ programme.
The initiative is expected to cover various parts of the country, including the savannah regions, as part of efforts to restore degraded landscapes and increase tree cover.
Beyond GoldBod’s activities and the fight against illegal mining, President Mahama highlighted the government’s local content policy, which seeks to increase the participation of indigenous Ghanaian companies in the mining industry.
He said the policy would encourage a transition from owner mining to contract mining by indigenous companies, creating more opportunities for local businesses to provide services to mining operations.
“We have also introduced a local content policy that transitions our mining companies from owner mining to contract mining by indigenous companies, so that we can have more indigenous participation in our mining industries,” he said.
The policy is intended to expand the role of Ghanaian-owned businesses in the mining value chain and increase local participation in the industry.
However, the President assured workers employed by existing gold mining companies that the transition would not affect their salaries or conditions of service.
“I want to reassure the workers who currently work for operating gold mines that the transfer to contract mining will not affect their remuneration or their conditions of service,” he said.
“They will be paid the same way as they were paid under their current administrations,” he added.