By Iddi Yire
Accra, March 03, GNA – The draft Bill for the establishment of the Goldbod has gone through extensive stakeholder consultations.
Mr Sammy Gyamfi, Acting Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company Limited (PMMC), made the disclosure when he led a delegation of the Goldbod Technical Committee to engage Small-Scale Miners, Gold Dealers and Jewellers in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region.
He noted that the GoldBod Draft Bill had so far received the approval of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
“The only approvals outstanding are that of Cabinet and Parliament, which the Ministry of Finance and Technical Committee hope to secure in the next couple of days,” he said.
Mr Gyamfi said when the GoldBod Bill is passed into law, the Goldbod would take over the PMMC as a going concern, albeit with enhanced objects, powers, and functions, and shall operate with the primary objective of generating forex for the country and supporting the gold reserve accumulation program of the Bank of Ghana.
He reiterated that the Goldbod would be the sole authority with the exclusive right to buy, sell and export all the gold from the Small-Scale Mining Industry, with rights to buy and export a portion or all the gold produced by large scale mining firms.
He said the Goldbod shall also pursue value addition policies, promote responsible sourcing and traceability, aggressively combat gold smuggling, and provide support for Small-Scale Miners in the form of geological investigations, concession viability and equipment financing.
Attendees at the event overwhelmingly lauded the Goldbod initiative of President John Dramani Mahama as the notable change urgently required to restructure and streamline the gold trading industry for the optimization of national benefits across the gold value chain.
GNA