Foreigners ordered to exit gold trading market

Ghana has ordered foreigners to exit its gold trading market by the end of the month, a new government body said last week, according to Mining Weekly. The directive is part of the enforcement of the newly enacted Ghana Gold Board Act. Africa's leading gold producer is shifting away from a system in which local and foreign companies with export licences can buy and export gold from artisanal or small-scale mining. The West African country is hoping that this would reduce smuggling. Under the new system, the newly created gold board known as GoldBod is the only entity allowed to buy, sell, assay and export artisanal gold, Monday's statement said, and older licences have ceased to be valid. Foreigners must leave the local gold trading market by 30 April although they can apply ‘to buy or take-off gold directly from the GoldBod,’ the statement said. Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson said in January that the creation of GoldBod would allow Ghana to benefit more from gold sales while maintaining the national currency's stability.

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