Sierra Leone’s Finance Minister in Ghana to learn about Goldbod’s successes

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance, Sheku Fantamadi Bangura, has paid a working visit to Ghana to explore the operations of the Ghana Gold Board (Goldbod) and how its model could be replicated to drive economic growth in his country.

The visit was disclosed by Goldbod’s Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, in a post on X.

He stated that discussions with the Sierra Leonean minister focused on the institution’s achievements and how they could serve as a blueprint for similar initiatives in the sub-region.

“Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance, Sheku Fantamadi Bangura, visited @GhanaGOLDBOD CEO Sammy Gyamfi to discuss GoldBod’s success and explore adopting its model for economic growth in Sierra Leone,” Mr. Gyamfi wrote on X

Goldbod was established by the Government of Ghana this year as part of efforts to leverage on the country’s gold reserves to boost economic growth.

It was designed to manage, regulate, and promote Ghana’s gold trade and reserves, ensuring that the mineral contributes directly to macroeconomic stability. The institution was also tasked with supporting the cedi by using gold reserves as a hedge against currency depreciation.

Since its inception, Goldbod has been credited with creating a transparent and structured system for gold aggregation, storage, and trade.

This has boosted government revenue, increased investor confidence, and positioned Ghana as a leader in innovative resource-backed economic policies.

The model has also been praised for improving accountability in the gold sector while ensuring that the nation’s mineral wealth benefits the wider economy.

A few days ago, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, announced that Ghana will soon have its first state-owned gold refinery to process and export bullion instead of raw doré.

He made the announcement at the maiden edition of the Mining and Minerals Convention held at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra on Tuesday, September 9, 2025. According to him, the gold refinery will be built at the Kotoka International Airport’s cargo village, alongside a modern assay laboratory, to transform the country’s gold export regime.

Mr. Gyamfi described it as unacceptable that a country that has consistently ranked among the top gold producers in Africa still exports unrefined gold. “It is a national shame that after decades of leadership in gold production, Ghana still exports doré instead of bullion. The refinery will change this narrative,” he stressed.

The refinery project, he said, is part of the government’s broader reset agenda to retain more value from gold production in Ghana. The GoldBod is partnering with the Bank of Ghana and local refineries such as the Gold Coast Refinery to ensure refined gold becomes the new standard for export.