First major audit of top miners launched

Ghana, Africa’s top gold producer, has launched its most aggressive mining audit in a decade, targeting top miners to recover lost revenue and tighten oversight, a government letter seen by Reuters shows. According to MSN, the audit will cover major gold miners including top producer Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Perseus, Asante Gold and China's Zijin. It will be led by government auditors, forensic accountants and independent consultants, according to the 13 October government letter from the regulatory Minerals Commission sent to mining companies via the Ghana Chamber of Mines. The commission’s letter details a phased audit starting with Gold Fields’ Damang mine and Perseus in November, ending with Canada-based Xtra-Gold’s Kibi unit in late June 2026. Individual companies have received letters detailing the schedule, an executive of one of the companies said. The Minerals Commission is deploying teams for the nationwide physical and financial audit from 1 November to June 2026 to scrutinise production volumes, mineral flows, tax and royalty payments and environmental compliance. Miners were to submit 10 years' worth of production logs, three years of financial records, all permits, stockpiles and shipping manifests by 31 October. Company-specific reports are due within 30 days of each site visit, the letter said.