World Gold Council and Ghana Partner to Formalize Gold Mining

The World Gold Council and the Government of Ghana signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding on July 21, 2026, to formalize the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector. Acting through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the partnership seeks to enhance supply chain integrity and combat illicit finance after Ghana lost an estimated $11.4 billion to gold smuggling between 2019 and 2023.

To incentivize miners to enter the formal supply chain, the initiative will establish a national network of trusted processing plants and focus on traceability technology, policy development, and educational support for mining communities. As an immediate first step, the World Gold Council provided a $250,000 development grant to support cooperative registration under Ghana's rCOMSDEP programme.