Ghana recorded a string of steep declines in the outturns of production and purchases of its traditional minerals, with manganese and diamond being the outliers. A combination of concurrent reductions in the output of both large and small-scale gold producers led to a 29.92% fall in the production of the country’s dominant mineral-gold.
The volume of gold attributable to producers in Ghana declined from 4.02 trillion ounces in 2020 to 2.82 million ounces in 2021, which is the lowest level of output since 2008.
The newly elected president of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Joshua Mortoti, who made this known during the Chamber’s 94th AGM in Accra said, “this has led to Ghana dropping from the leading producer in Africa to the second position”.
He explained that the large-scale sub-sector’s contribution to national gold production decreased from 2.85 million ounces in 2020 to 2.72 million ounces in 2021, representing a downturn of 4.44%.
The descent in the sub-sector’s output was primarily explained by a broad decline in the output of most mines, with the output of Asanko Gold Mines, AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi, and Iduapriem Mines, as well as Adamus Resources Ltd, contracting by more than 10% relative to their respective production outturns in 2020,” he stated.
Again, the output of small-scale gold producers, which is proxied by exports of Licensed Gold Exporting Companies, plummeted by 91.7% to 0.09 million ounces in 2021 from 1.18 million ounces in 2020.
The near collapse in the sub-sector’s output was principally a reflection of the producers’ response to the imposition of a 3% withholding tax on their output by the government in 2019 he noted,”.
Meanwhile, the exports of diamonds recorded growth for the first time since 2014. The quantum of diamonds exported through the implementer of the Kimberly Process, PMMC, improved by 114.2%.
The increase in exports from 25,292 carats in 2020 to 54,174 carat in 2021 was primarily a consequence of high recoveries by artisanal winners, who have been the sole producers of that mineral since the only large-scale producer (Great Consolidated Diamond Company) was put under “care and maintenance” Mortoti explained.
He further explained that, the attributable production of manganese by the Ghana Manganese Company, which is the sole producer, expanded from 2.357 million tonnes in 2020 to 3.336 million tonnes in 2021. The 41.52% upturn in production was reflective of a full year’s production.
