Ghana overtakes South Africa to become the world’s top gold producer

Ghana has become the world’s number one producer of gold in Africa following a drastic increase in productivity and investments since 2014. The West African country formally known as the Gold Coast until March 6, 1957, beat former world number one gold producer, South Africa, which has until recently, held the top position for several decades.

South Africa now takes second place with a huge gap existing between the two countries that have benefitted from gold trade centuries before colonisation.

According to Bloomberg, the humiliating defeat South Africa has suffered comes as the icing on the cake following the internal gold mining battles that the country has been facing since late 2013.

The country, which has the world’s deepest gold mines has encountered several strikes as a result of low salaries and other issues which have led to a rapid fall in production as operators and investors look to other countries with Ghana being the top destination.

While South Africa suffers, Ghana has seen a rise in investors as well as productivity among the top mining firms such as AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd both of which are South African. Others include Newmont Mining Corporation and Asanko G.

With a production of 139.3 tonnes of Gold in 2018 and a 12% increase in gold output, Ghana secured a financial aid of $19.39 million from the World Bank as part of its strategy to help affected persons in the mining areas of the country and help in the scale-up of the Ghana Forest Investment Program.

While  $9.89 million of the financial aid will be used for Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in Forest Landscapes, the other $9.50 million will be used to build private sector engagement in plantation activities in the Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and Western regions of Ghana.

With one of the largest world reserves, South Africa will be looking at redeeming itself in 2019, however, Ghana is set to give it a run for its money following an expected increase in production in 2019 after several more investments and the establishment and reestablishment of new mining firms.