The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has called on all Self-Financing Aggregators (SFAs) to refine gold doré locally before export, as part of efforts to boost value addition in Ghana’s gold industry.
The directive, issued in a compliance notice dated August 24, 2026, will take effect on September 1, 2026, and applies to all SFAs and their approved offtakers.
Under the new requirement, SFAs will no longer be allowed to export gold doré in its unrefined form. All offtake agreements or commercial arrangements between SFAs and approved offtakers must explicitly require the gold to be refined in Ghana before it is exported.
However, the directive constitutes part of GoldBod’s requirements under the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140) to control the purchase, sale, refining, value addition and export of gold in the country.
GoldBod said all gold refining must be conducted at a refinery approved or designated by the Board and in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
The Board also reserved the right to determine which refinery should handle specific gold consignments and to issue further operational directives on the refining process.
According to GoldBod, the cost of refining will be borne by either the SFA or the approved offtaker, based on the terms of their commercial agreement.
GoldBod also stated that all applicable refining charges must be paid or otherwise settled before the refined gold can be exported.
Moreover, the new directive also requires SFAs to review their existing commercial arrangements with approved offtakers.
GoldBod said all existing offtake agreements must be amended by August 31, 2026, to include the mandatory local refining requirement. The Board added that it may request evidence of the amendments at any time.
GoldBod will, from September 1, process export requests only after confirming that the gold has been refined in Ghana, all applicable refining charges have been settled, and the necessary assay, regulatory and export requirements have been fulfilled.
The Board has cautioned its members that exporting, or attempting to export, unrefined gold doré will constitute a breach of the conditions of an SFA licence.
The Board also added that non-compliant operators will face regulatory sanctions, including refusal or suspension of export approvals, suspension or revocation of licences, administrative sanctions and other enforcement measures permitted under the Ghana Gold Board Act, applicable regulations and GoldBod directives.