Ebenezer Agyarko, Principal Mining Consultant and Head of Technical Communications at the West Africa Cooperatives Networks (WACON), has called on Ghana to accelerate mineral diversification and value addition to reduce the country’s heavy dependence on gold exports.
Speaking on the topic, “What Goes into Value Addition and Mineral Diversification and How Is It Safeguarding Ghana’s Economy Beyond Gold?” Mr. Agyarko said Ghana’s economy is indeed largely anchored on gold exports, a position supported by international credit rating agencies and financial institutions.
According to him, major international rating agencies, including Fitch Ratings, S&P Global Ratings (Standard & Poor’s) and Moody’s, assess the economic performance of countries and provide investors with information on the risks and opportunities associated with investing in those economies.
He explained that these agencies have recently acknowledged Ghana’s improved economic outlook, largely because of strong earnings from gold exports.
“Gold export earnings reached about US$10.8 billion in 2025, while total mineral export earnings climbed to approximately US$20 billion. This confirms that Ghana’s economy is largely anchored on gold. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also acknowledged the significant contribution of gold exports to Ghana’s economic performance,” he said.
Mr. Agyarko, however, cautioned that Ghana cannot afford to rely solely on gold for its economic stability.
“The question we have to ask ourselves is this: if the price of gold falls on the world market, can Ghana survive? Obviously, the answer is no. That is why, as a country, we must pursue mineral diversification and value addition,” he stressed.
He said data from the World Gold Council demonstrates how volatile the international gold market can be. According to him, the average gold price stood at about US$1,940 per ounce in 2023, rose to US$2,386 in 2024, increased further to about US$3,431 in 2025, and was trading at approximately US$4,298.87 per ounce on the morning of the interview.
Given the favourable prices, Mr. Agyarko urged the government to take advantage of the current boom by saving part of the proceeds.
“If the price of gold is favourable, government should not put all the proceeds into reserves alone. A portion should be channelled into a Stabilisation Fund. Gold is a volatile commodity and prices can decline at any time. While the gains are strong, this is the best time to save for periods when prices fall,” he advised.
Mr. Agyarko noted that discussions on value addition often focus only on gold, but argued that Ghana must broaden its attention to other strategic minerals.
He pointed out that Ghana has made progress in refining gold through facilities such as the Royal Gold Refinery and the Gold Fields refinery, which process metric tonnes of gold before export. However, he said similar investments have not been made in the processing of other mineral resources.
Using bauxite as an example, he explained that although Ghana produces bauxite through the Ghana Bauxite Company at Awaso, the country lacks an alumina refinery to process the ore into alumina, the key raw material used in aluminium production.
“Ghana imports alumina, which is used to manufacture aluminium products such as cooking utensils. In 2024 alone, the country spent about US$31.6 million importing alumina. If Ghana had an alumina refinery to process the bauxite we mine locally, we could save more than US$30 million in foreign exchange every year,” he stated.
He said the absence of an alumina refinery forces Ghana to spend scarce foreign exchange importing a product that could be produced locally from its own mineral resources.
Mr. Agyarko also highlighted the country’s manganese industry, noting that although the Ghana Manganese Company mines significant quantities of manganese at Tarkwa, Ghana still lacks a refinery to process the mineral into higher-value products.
According to him, refining manganese into ferromanganese would significantly increase the country’s export earnings and support local manufacturing.
“Ferromanganese is an important industrial material used in steel production and other manufacturing processes. I am encouraged that Ghana Manganese Company intends to establish a manganese refinery. That is a step in the right direction because it will create jobs for mechanical engineers, electricians, technicians and many other professionals, while also generating thousands of indirect employment opportunities,” he said.
Mr. Agyarko further expressed concern that many mining companies operating in Ghana continue to rely heavily on foreign consultants and specialised technical service providers.
“Most of the mining companies in Ghana engage foreign consultants and technical service providers. The payments for these services are transferred back to their home countries because the companies are foreign-owned. If we these local expertise and develop Ghanaian companies to provide these specialised services, we can retain more revenue within the country, create jobs and strengthen our economy,” he said.
He maintained that Ghana’s long-term economic resilience depends on investing in mineral diversification, expanding local processing capacity and adding value to the country’s mineral resources rather than relying predominantly on gold exports.
Story by Stephen Kwaku Owusu Mintah/Ahotoronline/Accra