The government is to begin selling gold seized from illegal mining operations and use the proceeds to finance the restoration of degraded lands and polluted water bodies.
Senior Presidential Advisor Joyce Bawah Mogtari disclosed this while speaking on Woezor TV on Sunday, April 20. She said the initiative is part of efforts by the Ghana Gold Board to sanitize the gold trade and ensure that gold obtained through unregulated mining activities does not enter the formal market.
According to her, a blockchain tracking system has been implemented to trace the source of all gold traded in the country
Ms. Bawah Mogtari stated that proceeds from the sale of gold confiscated through the tracking system would go directly toward reclaiming lands and cleaning water bodies that have been devastated by illegal mining.
She likened the strategy to the global response to conflict diamonds, where strict certification schemes were introduced to block the sale of diamonds from war zones
