The Managing Director of the Treasured Minerals Marketing Firm (PMMC), Mr Sammy Gyamfi, has warned gold smugglers to stop their operations or face the total rigours of the regulation.
He stated, authorities via the institution of the Gold Board (GOLDBOD), would streamline gold exports and examine illicit commerce, including that, any one that smuggled gold, commits an offence and liable to a minimal jail time period of 10 years and a most of 20 years.
Mr Gyamfi gave the warning at a stakeholders’ engagement held at Tarkwa within the Western Area, on Friday, on the
to-be-established (GOLDBOD), geared toward streamlining the gold buying and selling sector in Ghana.
The occasion, which delivered together gold patrons, small-scale miners, business mining corporations and chiefs, was to handle misinformation and misconceptions, make clear the targets and advantages of the GOLDBOD, solicit inputs, collect suggestions and strategies from stakeholders on the GOLDBOD Invoice.
He stated “We all know the place you might be, and shortly, we shall be monitoring you. So don’t be tempted to smuggle the gold. There’ll no black market. No foreigner shall be given an aggregator to purchase gold. Foreigners are having fun with from the gold Trade, and why ought to we permit this? If you wish to purchase gold, go the GOLDBOD.”
Mr Gyamfi instructed contributors that, the GOLDBOD would have the powers of entry, inspections, audit, search, seizure, confiscation, detention and arrest, topic to the structure, and, in collaboration with different related state businesses.
He, subsequently, urged the indusattempt to help GOLDBOD so as to inject sanity into Ghana’s gold commerce and Foreign exchange to stabilise the cedi, enhance the economic system and welfare of miners “who’re the bulwark of the economic system.”
He added that: “once we arrest you, you’ll lose your gold and your future prospects. Come for the licence and we gives you cash to purchase the gold,” the PMMC MD defined.
The GOLDBOD, Mr Gyamfi envisaged, was able to delivering Foreign exchange inflows of between $4 billion to $6 billion each year on the present market charge via strategic ahead gross sales of gold from the small scale mining sector to help foreign exchange accumulation and change charge administration by the Financial institution of Ghana.
Moreover, he emphasised that GOLDBOD would have the proper to purchase all portion of gold manufacturing by massive scale mining corporations consistent with government’s peremptory rights.
This association, he stated, may considerably increase the Foreign exchange and gold reserve accumulation programme of the BOG for a stronger nationwide economic system.
Furthermore, he instructed the participants that GOLDBOD would concern licences to individuals engaged in a enterprise or associated exercise in gold buying and selling and advertising and marketing business or an ancillary enterprise exercise.
These embrace the aggregator licence, shopping for license, refining license, export partnership license, storage license and importation license.
The Common Secretary of the Ghana Nationwide Affiliation of Small Scale Miners, Godwin Armah, referred to as on all stakeholders to make sure the success of the GOLDBOD initiative for it to be handed into regulation.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TARKWA
