Ghana returns to gold top spot as output jumps 32%

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana recorded a 32% increase in gold production last year, enabling it to win back the top spot from South Africa as the largest gold producer on the continent, the president of the mines chamber said on Friday.

Ghana lost the position to South Africa in 2021 after a drastic fall in output.

Gold output rose to 3.7 million ounces in 2022 from 2.8 million ounces the previous year, driven by growth in the output of both large and small-scale sectors.

"The large-scale gold sub-sector recorded its highest output in the country's history in 2022," Joshua Mortoti, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, told members at the annual general meeting.

He said a combination of output and the expansion of production at existing mines drove the large-scale sector's contribution to national gold output up by 13% to 3.1 million ounces last year from 2.7 million ounces in 2021.

Mortoti said member companies of the mines chamber had sold over 77,620 ounces of gold under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, a scheme launched by the Bank of Ghana to boost reserves.

(Reporting by Christian Akorlie; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian and Louise Heavens)