Newmont sells 3,500 oz of gold to Ghana under local purchasing plan

Newmont’s Africa unit has sold 3,500 ounces of gold to the Bank of Ghana under a central bank domestic gold purchasing program launched in June 2021, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The gold purchasing program aims to increase gold reserves and spurred discussions with the Chamber or Mines about the Bank of Ghana’s intentions to purchase refined gold from mining companies in the country.

Newmont Africa said it was the first mining company to respond to the central bank’s initiative with a first sale of refined gold in May 2022.

Ghana’s central bank is seeking to raise the gold component of its reserves in a bid to strengthen the West African country’s local cedi currency without increasing inflation.

(By Cooper Inveen and Sofia Christensen; Editing by James Macharia Chege)