Gold Coast Refinery, the biggest refinery in West Africa, has offered 15 per cent share of its profit to the government as its contribution towards the streamlining of the country’s gold sector.
The carried interest which would be handled by the newly constituted Gold Board on behalf of the country is in recognition of the support the refinery received from the government during its establishment, and the desire to streamline gold trade across the entire value chain.
“We offer the Republic of Ghana, represented by Gold Board, 15 per cent as carried interest. I announce here, in my capacity, as the Chairman of the Board and CEO, and this is a gift from us to Gold Board,” he emphasised.
The Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Dr Saed Darez, announced this when the Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Precious Minerals Marketing Company and the newly established Gold Board, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, paid courtesy call of him at his office in Accra on Wednesday.
The visit was to afford Mr Gyamfi to assess the operations of the refinery which is the second biggest on the continent as well as ascertain its capacity in terms of the volume of gold it could refine in a day.
It was also to explore ways by which Gold Coast Refinery can support the government’s agenda of adding value to the country’s large deposits of gold before exporting it.
Dr Darez said he appreciated very much the support of the President towards the establishment of the refinery and believed it was time to also support his vision of developing the entire value chain of the gold trade in the country.
He stated that the visit by the CEO of the Gold Board presented a big chance for the two entities to cooperate for the development of the sector up to its peak.
“We followed his vision to build this refinery. He would like to add value to the gold. He would like to organise the gold sector. He doesn’t like the idea that just everyone exports the gold ore outside just so the nation doesn’t lose,” he concluded.
On his part, Mr Gyamfi indicated that President John Dramani Mahama was determined to restructure and streamline the gold trading sector of Ghana.
He noted that it was on that basis that the Ghana Gold Board was established to structure, regulate and streamline the gold trading sector that had been established.
Mr Gyamfi further explained that the objective of the new entity was to optimise the full benefits of gold for the country across the entire value chain.
“The act has been passed, meaning that the Gold Board is now inexistence and has taken over the functions and powers of PMMC, but we are yet to commence business.
We are currently making preparations to commence business by the first week of May, where we will commence the purchase and export of gold over there, with the main purpose of raising the much-needed foreign exchange for Ghana to stabilse our currency,” he revealed.
Additionally, Mr Gyamfi stated that it would also support gold reserve accumulation by the Bank of Ghana, however, very key to the functions of the Gold Board was the pursuit of value addition.
This, he said, made operations of entities like the Gold Coast Refinery very essential, adding that, “His Excellency has directed us to put in place the necessary measures and move the country away from the export of dory bars to bullion, and also to make allocation from the gold we buy to support those who are involved in the downstream fabrication of gold.”
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
