What the GoldBod reform changed, and why

Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer, mining roughly 141 tonnes in 2024 (source: U.S. International Trade Administration, Trade.gov). For most of the past three decades, the sector ran on licences issued by the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), which also conducted assays and certified consignments for export. The system worked, unevenly. Unlicensed trading, under-declaration, and unenforced limits on foreign involvement in small-scale mining let a large share of gold leave Ghana outside the formal system. The UK's own gold programme in Ghana put the resulting loss to the state at over USD 2 billion a year in smuggled gold and unpaid tax (source: GhanaWeb, reporting UK-Ghana Gold Programme estimate).

The Ghana Gold Board Act, passed by Parliament on 29 March 2025 and signed on 2 April 2025, replaced this system with one central authority. Under Act 1140, GoldBod is now the only body permitted to license, buy, sell, assay, and export gold produced by artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM). All PMMC licences and Minerals Commission export licences for ASM gold stopped being valid on 30 April 2025. Since 1 May 2025, exporting ASM gold outside the GoldBod system is a criminal offence (source: GoldBod, Press Statement, 14 April 2025).

"A supplier presenting a PMMC licence or a Minerals Commission export permit as their trading authorisation after April 2025 is presenting documents that are no longer valid. That is the starting point for any verification conversation."

The three routes to market for international buyers

Foreigners are not shut out of Ghana's gold market under Act 1140, but the legal ways in are specific. There are three:

Route 01
Direct GoldBod off-take
You register with GoldBod as an approved off-taker and buy directly from its certified export pool. Your counterparty is GoldBod rather than a private intermediary, which many international buyers may view as reducing certain counterparty and compliance risks. You still need to pass GoldBod's KYC and due diligence process, run jointly with the Bank of Ghana and the Financial Intelligence Centre. pricing is generally referenced to internationally recognised benchmark prices such as LBMA quotations, with commercial premiums or discounts agreed separately, and GoldBod coordinates the export logistics.
Route 02
Work with a GoldBod-licensed aggregator
A licensed aggregator buys gold from licensed miners and Tier 1/2 buyers and supplies it to GoldBod. If you finance or partner with one, you are working with an entity already inside the compliance system, not building a supply chain from zero. The self-financing aggregator licence, defined under Act 1140, is built for exactly this: an aggregator using outside capital to buy from licensed miners for onward supply to GoldBod.
Route 03
Joint venture with a licensed entity
You form a joint venture with a Ghanaian company that already holds a valid GoldBod licence. Any foreign-owned company in this structure must register with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC). Your capital and market access combine with their licence and local operations, but the licence holder stays the regulated party, so the JV agreement needs to spell out roles, responsibilities, and the revenue split before any gold moves.

What GoldBod-licensed aggregators actually do

The self-financing aggregator licence matters most to a buyer who wants an active, ongoing relationship in Ghana rather than a one-off purchase from the state. Under Act 1140, a licensed aggregator buys gold only from licensed miners (Tier 1 and Tier 2 buyers) and supplies it to GoldBod. It funds this itself, whether from its own cash or a financing partner, and it can only operate in areas GoldBod has approved.

An aggregator must have at least one physical office, backed by a lease or title deed, and accepts unannounced GoldBod inspections. Its AML obligations are strict: no unlicensed or illegal gold, no financing tied to terrorism or smuggling. The licence cannot be transferred to another party without GoldBod's written consent (source: GoldBod, Self-Financing Aggregator Licence Conditions).

For a buyer who wants reliable, repeat supply out of Ghana, financing or partnering with a licensed aggregator gives you something a one-off off-take with GoldBod does not: an aggregator that already knows the licensed miners, the local logistics, and the quality issues to watch for. You bring the capital that makes the aggregation work; they bring the standing to move gold through the GoldBod system.

What large-scale miners operate under, separately

The GoldBod reform applies to ASM gold only. Large-scale producers, Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, and others, keep their existing export rights under their mining agreements, and coordinate with GoldBod only for assay confirmation and export reporting. If you are buying from a large-scale producer, you are negotiating with that company directly, not with a GoldBod-licensed intermediary, and the paperwork is different from the ASM route described above.

How to verify a GoldBod licence

GoldBod publishes licensing information at goldbod.gov.gh. For any entity claiming a GoldBod licence, aggregator, buyer, or exporter, three checks matter: confirm the entity name and licence number through GoldBod's licensing portal or by calling its Accra office directly; confirm the licence is current and not suspended; confirm the licence type actually matches the activity the entity claims to carry out. Every licence holder and off-taker goes through KYC and due diligence run jointly by GoldBod, the Bank of Ghana, and the Financial Intelligence Centre, which is what makes this a checkable claim rather than a company's word.