Ghana has continued her situation as the main gold maker in Africa.

When he delivered his final State of the Nation address (SONA), President Akufo-Addo made this disclosure in front of Parliament.

“Mr. Speaker, Ghana overtook South Africa last year to regain her position as Africa's top gold producer. According to preliminary reports, our gold production reached an unprecedented four million ounces.

“This is because of the progressive policies that we have been enacting. These policies have resulted in the revival of dormant mines like the Obuasi and Bibiani Mines as well as the expansion of existing mines. Over the course of the past two years, there has been a nine hundred percent (900%) increase in gold exports from the small-scale sector as a result of the withholding tax on unprocessed gold being reduced by small-scale miners from 3% to 1.5%.

The President stated that his administration's innovative Gold for Oil Policy, which accounts for approximately thirty percent (30%) of our total crude oil consumption, leveraged these resources.

“At the moment, three (3) large-scale mines are being built in the Ahafo, Upper East, and Upper West Regions. In the Upper East Region, Cardinal Namdini is expected to pour its first gold in the fourth quarter of this year. With these new mines, our gold creation is supposed to increment to about four point 5,000,000 ounces (4.5 million oz) yearly.

“Mr. Speaker, to add value to these volumes of production, we constructed a gold refinery with a capacity of 400 kilograms (kg) through a public-private partnership, and we are in the final stages of negotiations for a certificate from the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

We have established a policy for the exploitation and management of our green minerals, including lithium, to guarantee beneficiation throughout the value chain of these vital minerals, he remarked.

He went on to say that Newmont Corporation, the largest gold producer in the world, plans to sell its Akyem Mine in Ghana's Eastern Region, the country's third-largest mine, which produced 420,000 ounces of gold in 2022. The company already owns two large mines in Ghana and is building a third.

President Akufo-Addo added, "We will engage with Newmont to give priority to Ghanaian investors who will want to acquire this mine, to ensure that our mineral resources better benefit the Ghanaian people." This is part of the government's policy toward indigenous mining.