South Africa Overtakes Ghana As Leading Producer Of Gold In Africa

By John Ikani

Ghana has lost it position as Africa’s leading gold producer to South Africa as total production from large and small-scale producers declined from 4 million ounces in 2020 to 2.8 million ounces last year, mainly due to operations-related challenges.

This was made known by the the incoming President of Ghana Chamber of Mines, Joshua Mortoti while speaking during the Chamber’s 94th annual general meeting in Accra.

Mr. Mortoti, who replaces Eric Asuboteng, said output from Asanko Gold Mines, AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi and Iduapriem Mines as well as Adamus Resources Limited contracted by more than 10 percent relative to their respective production outturns in 2020. The drop, he added, was occasioned by operational challenges.

Mr. Mortoti added that the output could have been worse but for the significant expansion in production from Abosso Goldfields Limited.

While noting that large-scale miners’ output dropped from 2.9 million ounces in 2020 to 2.7 million ounces in 2021 – a 4 percent drop, Mr. Mortoti added that output of small miners plummeted by 92 percent; from 1.2 million ounces in 2020 to 0.1 percent the following year.

He was quoted by Ghanaweb as saying: “The sub-sector’s output reduction was primarily explained by a broad decline in the output of most mines.”

Meanwhile, the 92 percent contraction in the small-scale sub-sector was primarily driven by a 3 percent withholding tax on gold export in 2019. The policy – which is believed to have forced small miners to resort to non-official channels for exporting gold – has now been halved.

Consequently, gross receipts from export of minerals went down 25 percent from US$7billion in 2020 to US$5billion in 2021 due to the fall in production.

Despite the drop in production and gross receipts from export, the mining sector retained its place as the leading source of export revenue, accounting for 36 percent of aggregate merchandise receipts last year from 48 percent in 2020 – ahead of crude oil and cocoa which acccounted for 27 percent and 19 percent of total export revenue in 2021.