PMMC partners Indian company to establish gold refinery

The Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) Limited has entered into a partnership with an Indian Company to establish a gold refinery in Ghana.

In an interview with Accra-based Starr FM, a source said that “We believe in value addition and we have been trumpeting this as a government since we came in, that, instead of selling raw gold, raw diamond, raw cocoa we will promote value addition.”

“As part of promoting value addition we have entered into some partnership with an Indian company to build a refinery. When we refined the gold we will get ten times the amount that we are getting from exporting raw gold. So we believe that when this refinery comes up in the next year or so Ghana will be getting more revenue from our gold than what we are getting now,” the source added.

During the last five years, the exports of Ghana have increased at an annualized rate of 1.6%, from $14.6billion in 2011 to $16.5billion in 2016. The most recent exports are led by Gold which represents 57.1% of the total exports of Ghana, followed by Cocoa Beans, which account for 13.4%.

The source also indicated that since Dr Kwadwo Opare-Hammond took office as the Managing Director of the PMMC, the state company now values gold mined from the country before it is exported.

“What was happening was that when we dig the gold, we just package everything, fly it from the mine site to the Kotoka International Airport, and then taken out. It is when the gold is taken out that they go and do what we call assaying and then they tell us the value. So we are relying on refineries abroad to determine the values of our gold. This has been going on since gold mining started in this country over 120 years ago,” the source said.

“But when we came,” he continued, “I remember the MD saying ‘as far as I am concerned it must stop.’ So we worked hard and thank God we got the support and collaboration of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and all their members came on board and now since effective April 2018 we determine the gold value in Ghana here.”