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The Benefits Of Banning Small-Scale Gold Mining And Halting The Export Of All Unrefined Gold From Ghana

Feature Article John Peter Amewu
AUG 1, 2017 LISTEN
John Peter Amewu

Future generations of Ghanaians will forever be grateful to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and his able minister for lands and natural resources, the dynamic Hon. John Peter Amewu.

Without a shadow of doubt both men will be lauded by countless generations of Ghanaians till the very end of time - for acting when they did in taking active steps to halt the destruction of the remainder of our nation's natural hertitage.

And when the history of this generation of our people is compiled by scholars in the far distant future, the names of President Akufo-Addo and Hon. John Peter Amewu will almost certainly be written in letters of gold.

Indeed, if President Akufo-Addo's government had not acted to end the activities of illegal gold miners, illegal loggers and illegal sand-winners, eventually, over time, virtually the entirety of Ghana's landmass would have been poisoned and destroyed by greedy and selfish small-scale gold miners (both legally registered miners and illegal gold miners), illegal loggers and illegal sand-winners.

Above all, before it is halted completely, in order to effectively control the activities of small-scale gold miners in the interim, it is vital that the use of excavators and other heavy equipment/machinery by the whole of the small-scale gold mining sector, is banned totally right across the Ghanaian countryside.

Using excavators is not small-scale gold mining - it mining on an industrial scale. Full stop. No question.

Furthermore, for the sake of Mother Nature and to secure the well-being of our country, as well as promote the welfare of our younger generations who live in the countryside, we must all take cognisance of the fact that a better business model can be developed quickly to replace small-scale gold mining as a provider of wealth and employment in rural Ghana.

The question is: Why does Ghanaian society not encourage those now engaged in small-scale gold mining to come together to partner the Precious Minerals Marketing Company Limited (PMMC), in an innovative private public partnership (PPP) funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to set up a large, bleeding-edge gold refinery to produce credit-card-sized gold bars and gold coins - and turn Ghana into a global centre for the sale and purchase of same?

That new business model will also help to replace jobs lost in halting small-scale mining completely - as it will enable us to make Ghana an ecotourism destination anchored on the remainder of our country's natural heritage: and thus create a lucrative outbound tourism market in Ghana for Chinese citizens and the citizens of other Asian nations to travel here to purchase gold bars, gold coins and traditional-style Ghanaian jewelry.

In other words, instead of allowing a few thousand Ghanasian, Chinese and citizens of other nations engaged in small-scale gold mining to destroy large swathes of land across Ghana in their quest for gold, it would be far more beneficial for us to stop them from destroying the remainder of our nation's natural heritage, and instead take steps to create a tourism business in which millions of Chinese citizens and those of other nations regularly travel to Ghana to purchase credit-card-sized gold bars with Adinkra symbols etched on them.

Ditto get people from all over the world to come to Ghana to purchase gold coins with Adinkra signs etched on them, as well as buy traditional-style Ghanaian gold jewelry whiles here. That is a far more sensible and sustainable way to proceed. After all, if Thailand could earn U.S.$71 billion from the 31 million visitors it hosted in 2016, surely, nothing stops Ghana from also earning billions of dollars too, by attracting tens of millions of Chinese citizens and the nationals of other nations to come here to purchase gold bars, gold coins and gold jewelry.

What does Thailand have that Ghana doesn't have or lacks? Zilch.

Finally, to show that we could actually turn the passion that most Chinese citizens have for investing in bullion to our advantage, we have culled a NewsMax Finance story that we hope will show the association of small-scale gold miners that it makes sense for them to leave gold mining and go into partnership instead with the PMMC to refine gold to produce gold bars, gold coins and jewelry and help to turn our homeland Ghana into a global centre for the purchase of same.

Please read on:
"Chinese Demand for Gold Bars Climbs by 50 Percent on Hunt for Havens

Friday, 28 Jul 2017 01:02 PM
Demand for gold bars in China, the world’s biggest bullion market, soared by more than half in the first six months of the year as investors sought a haven from financial and geopolitical risks.

Sales climbed 51 percent to 158.40 metric tons from a year earlier, the China Gold Association said in a press statement sent via Wechat on Friday. Overall gold consumption climbed almost 10 percent to 545.2 tons, including 330.8 tons for jewelry sales, while industrial demand and other uses increased 9 percent.

Investor concerns earlier this year over the depreciation of Chinese currency and instability in the stock market, as well as worries about the slowdown in property prices, spurred demand for gold. Imports from Hong Kong climbed last month as gold retreated on the global market, according to data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department compiled by Bloomberg.

“Physical gold is playing an increasingly important role in Chinese residents’ investment portfolio,” the association said. “Gold is broadly favored by investors as a store of wealth as global markets become more fragile, with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and increasing geopolitical uncertainty.”

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Demand for all of 2017 may exceed 1,000 tons, the highest level in four years, as bar sales surge, Zhang Yongtao, the association’s secretary-general, said in an interview in May. Domestic output, including production from imported feedstock, fell 6 percent to 241.5 tons in the first half, amid more stringent environment rules and depletion of mine resources, the group said Friday.

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