Ghana Digs For More Gold

Ghana still sits on a large reserve of gold despite the fact that gold has been mined here for the past 100 years. Available statistics indicate that the historical production of gold to date stands at 35,622,000oz while the country's current total gold reserve is estimated at about 54,004,000oz.

The most resourceful region in Ghana, Ashanti currently has 20,775,000oz of gold reserves although some 20,000,000oz of the precious metal has been mined since 1896.

Prestea and Konongo, other areas endowed with gold produced more than 6,800,000oz and 1,500,000 of gold since prospecting started in the two areas in 1925 and 1945 respectively. At

Tarkwa gold digging started in 1912 with a historical production of 4,300,000oz while 13,000,000oz of gold remain in the soil to be dug.

Bibiani and Damang each have more than 1,600,000oz of gold reserves while Bogosu, Teberebi and Ayanfuri, which are new mines, developed in the early 1990s yielded 1,500,000oz, 775,000oz and 150,000oz respectively. The three mines now have reserves estimated at 2,000,000oz, 9,000,000oz and 244,000oz respectively. Iduapriem, another new mine developed in 1991 has reserves of some 2,300,000oz of gold deposits.

From the middle of the 15th century the Gold Coast of West Africa now known as Ghana became an important source of gold and provided 5-8 tonnes of the precious metal per year. As more prospectors invest in Ghana and new technology is being imported for use in the mining industry, the potential for developing future mines is promising in the sub-region particularly Ghana.

The gold industry is facing major challenges because of lower gold prices and tighter environmental laws but some gold analysts are optimistic that the global production of the metal will remain fairly stable.