Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, has urged Ghana to treat the Gold Coast Refinery (GCR) partnership as a high-risk industrial experiment requiring strict oversight rather than patriotic symbolism.
In an analysis published on February 10, 2026, Simons highlighted that gold refining margins are razor-thin globally, with tolling refineries operating on net profit margins below 0.1 percent of revenue and service fees as low as 10 to 30 cents per ounce.
The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has committed to supply GCR with one metric tonne of gold per week, representing 50 tonnes annually, in exchange for 15 percent state equity in the refinery. The partnership, formalised in January 2026, marks Ghana’s renewed effort to capture value-addition margins in gold processing.
However, Simons identified multiple fiscal risks. GCR has historically operated at utilisation rates below five percent, raising concerns about its ability to scale to continuous, high-volume refining of 200 kilograms daily. He noted that successful refining requires reliable electricity for high-frequency furnaces, chemical reagents, accredited laboratories, and skilled metallurgists.
The analyst warned that Ghana’s total fiscal exposure could exceed 130 million dollars annually if global benchmark efficiency is not achieved, with hidden subsidies likely including feedstock premiums, inflated energy costs, and financing capital lock-up of refined metal.
Simons emphasised that global refining hubs succeed through ecosystem economics including trading, tax advantages, vaulting, and jewellery fabrication, not refining alone. He argued that real profits in the gold value chain exist upstream and downstream rather than in midstream refining operations.
The partnership between GoldBod and GCR involves a technical collaboration with South Africa’s Rand Refinery. Gold Coast Refinery, commissioned in November 2016, represents over 150 million dollars in investment and has capacity to refine up to 500 kilograms daily, equivalent to 180 metric tonnes annually.
The refinery became the first in Ghana and West Africa to receive Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) certification in 2022 and can refine gold doré to 999.99 purity through its partnership with Rand Refinery.
Despite these capabilities, the facility remained largely underutilised after the 2017 change of government, with no gold refined locally over eight years while Ghana exported approximately 325.2 metric tonnes of raw gold.
Simons stressed the need for transparency on critical contract details including liability for metal loss, insurance coverage, side-metal ownership, and benchmarking mechanisms. He called for clear exit options and relentless fiscal discipline to prevent the partnership from becoming another quasi-fiscal liability.
The policy analyst has previously questioned GoldBod’s operational framework, calling in January 2026 for the institution to face the same efficiency standards applied to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), noting that COCOBOD’s losses over four years were lower than concerns raised about GoldBod.
The GoldBod-GCR partnership represents Ghana’s latest attempt to capture downstream value from gold production. Parliament passed the Ghana Gold Board Act in April 2025, establishing GoldBod as regulator and principal buyer of gold, particularly from small-scale mining.
According to GoldBod Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi, the refinery partnership will generate substantial savings on foreign refining costs, increased export earnings, higher tax revenues, and job creation.
However, Simons cautioned that industrial policy must be evidence-based rather than driven by symbolism, warning that tolling economics are highly competitive and small inefficiencies can quickly eliminate profits.
