Ghana recorded a 32% increase in gold production last year, enabling it to win back the top spot from South Africa as the largest gold producer on the continent, the president of the mines chamber said on Friday.
Ghana lost the position to South Africa in 2021 after a drastic fall in output.
Gold output rose to 3.7 million ounces in 2022 from 2.8 million ounces the previous year, driven by growth in the output of both large and small-scale sectors.
“The large-scale gold sub-sector recorded its highest output in the country’s history in 2022,” Joshua Mortoti, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, told members at the annual general meeting.
He said a combination of output and the expansion of production at existing mines drove the large-scale sector’s contribution to national gold output up by 13% to 3.1 million ounces last year from 2.7 million ounces in 2021.
Mortoti said member companies of the mines chamber had sold over 77,620 ounces of gold under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, a scheme launched by the Bank of Ghana to boost reserves.
“The production and export of Ghana’s main minerals recorded mixed performances in 2022. While the output of gold and diamond increased, the production of bulk minerals, namely, manganese, and bauxite, declined year-on-year.
“The country’s gold output thankfully, increased from 2.8 million ounces in 2021 to 3.7 million ounces in 2022 due to concurrent growth in the output of both large and small-scale sectors. This translates into a 32% increase in production in the gold sub-sector. The large-scale gold sub-sector recorded its highest output in the country’s history in 2022.
“Notably, a combination of fresh output and expansion of production at existing large-scale mines drove the large-scale sector’s contribution to national gold output from 2.7 million ounces in 2021 to 3.1 million ounces in 2022, representing an increment of 13%” Mortoti said.
Source: Daily Mail GH with additional files from Reuters
Email Daily Mail GH: stories@dailymailgh.com or
Whatsapp: +233(0)509928122
