Editor’s Note
Ghana’s strategic shift toward domestic refining and processing of natural resources aims to boost industrialization, create jobs, and support its 24-hour economy vision.
Ghana’s push to refine and process natural resources domestically rather than export them in raw form is gaining traction as a potential engine for job creation and youth employment, aligning with broader industrialization goals and the government’s 24-hour economy strategy.
The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) signed an agreement with Gold Coast Refinery on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, to refine approximately 52,000 kilograms of gold annually, marking what officials described as a major turning point in Ghana’s efforts to increase value addition in the gold sector. The deal requires Gold Coast Refinery to process one metric ton of gold weekly beginning February 1, 2026.
Sammy Gyamfi, Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, stated at the signing ceremony that the partnership will create both direct and indirect jobs as Gold Coast Refinery has committed to operating around the clock in line with the government’s 24-hour economy policy.
The agreement grants GoldBod, on behalf of the Ghanaian state, a 15 percent free equity stake in Gold Coast Refinery, embedding public interests in the company’s shareholding and opening the door to potential dividend income.
Dr Said Deraz, Chief Executive Officer of Gold Coast Refinery, stated the deal would change Ghana’s age-long narrative of being a producer of raw gold to value addition while accelerating the journey to establishing a London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) accredited refinery.
The partnership includes involvement of Rand Refinery, Africa’s only LBMA accredited refinery, whose technical expertise is expected to help Ghana achieve LBMA accredited refinery status.
Government policy under the 24-hour economy framework aims to expand industrial raw material supply and sustain factory operations around the clock, principally to create decent and sustainable employment for young Ghanaians. The Feed Industries program, led by the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Agribusiness, is designed to establish agro-industrial value chains that link raw material production directly with processing plants.
Across sectors including gold and agro processing, local refining initiatives are expected to generate skilled technical roles, engineering positions and new opportunities in supply chain and ancillary industries from transport and packaging to maintenance that could absorb many young people currently on the margins of the formal labor market.
The Feed Industries initiative is projected to generate more than 18,000 direct and indirect jobs across farming, mechanization, aggregation, processing, logistics, quality control, packaging and exports, according to ministry officials.
These efforts support a broader national agenda to reduce reliance on raw exports and strengthen exports of value-added commodities. In the 2026 Budget, the government announced plans to build several agro-processing plants and garment factories aimed at accelerating industrialization and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across manufacturing and processing sectors.
President John Dramani Mahama announced on Saturday at the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa that Ghana will stop using foreign financing to purchase cocoa and instead raise domestic bonds in cedis, while setting a 2030 deadline to end exports of unprocessed mineral ores.
However, the vision of broad-based job creation through refining and processing faces practical constraints. Questions remain about whether Ghana has sufficient local technical capacity to fill specialized roles that modern processing plants require, particularly in metallurgy, engineering and quality assurance.
Building that capacity will depend heavily on technical and vocational training, partnerships between industry and educational institutions, and programs that bridge skills gaps for youth. Industry leaders have underscored that refining capacity will demand a larger workforce and that collaboration with technical universities is essential to equip youth with necessary skills.