Govt to sell seized illegal gold to fund environmental restoration – Bawah Mogtari

The government of Ghana will sell gold seized from illegal mining. The proceeds will help restore degraded lands and polluted water bodies. Senior Presidential Advisor Joyce Bawah Mogtari announced this plan.

Ms. Bawah Mogtari spoke on Woezor TV on Sunday, April 20. She said this initiative is part of the Ghana Gold Board's efforts to clean up the gold trade. The goal is to prevent illegally mined gold from entering the formal market.

“The Gold Board is tracking illegal gold,” she explained. A blockchain system has been implemented to trace all traded gold in the country.

Proceeds from confiscated gold sales will fund land reclamation and water cleanup. These areas have suffered due to illegal mining, known locally as galamsey.

“We face serious environmental challenges,” she noted. Rivers are polluted, and forests are disappearing. However, many young people are working on solutions to restore these resources.

Ms. Bawah Mogtari compared this strategy to the fight against conflict diamonds. Strict certification schemes were introduced to block diamonds from war zones.

“The global community took a stand against blood diamonds,” she said. This approach helped clean up the diamond trade, and Ghana aims for similar results with gold.

Ghana exports about $5 billion worth of gold each year. Much of this gold likely comes from illegal mining, benefiting neither the state nor local communities.

“That is what we must stop,” she emphasized. “We don’t want to export gold that harms people or the environment.”

She added that the Ghana Gold Board is making significant progress with this initiative. It has received support from key industry stakeholders.

“So far, the Board has taken impressive steps,” she concluded. With industry support, she believes everyone should back this effort.