PMMC Must Examine All Gold Before It Leaves Ghana—Dr. Bawumia

Government has directed the Ghana Chamber of Mines to work with the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) to check the real amount of gold exported out of the country.

The directive follows a number of undervalued quantity of gold declared in Ghana against high values of the commodity recorded abroad.

A recent case was revealed when the gold export record from Ghana to Saudi Arabia was two billion dollars but the foreign country receipt showed over four billion dollars.

Speaking at the Conference on Fiscal Management of Mining and Petroleum in West Africa, Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stated that government will no longer accept the situation where gold is exported out of the country without assessment from the PMMC.

He bemoaned the habit where multinational mining firms operating in Ghana on their own, examine the gold they produce and export without the involvement of the PMMC.

“In Ghana the major mining firms have been assaying gold mined from their mines by themselves before export, even though the law empowers the PMMC to do so,” he stressed.

Dr. Bawumia described the development as unacceptable since export of gold is a major source of revenue to government.

“While we must be careful not to impute, and no such thing is being alleged, it is also not acceptable that for a very long time, an institution of state with the power to help in properly accounting for our mineral resources was not enabled nor allowed to perform its job,” he said, adding that “This has to change”.

He disclosed that government and the relevant stakeholders have commenced work to make sure the PMMC vets every bar of gold that leaves the country.

“Thankfully, we have now begun conversations about the process of making sure every single bar of gold leaving our shores is properly weighed, tested, valued, and accounted for. While the process may not be as robust as we want it however a positive step,” he maintained.

Source: Citibusinessnews