Ghana will maintain its position as Africa’s largest gold producer in 2021, after surpassing South Africa in terms of gold production in 2019, according to an assessment of the gold mining industry in Africa by Fitch Solutions.
Fitch expects gold production in Ghana to achieve 9.0% growth year-on-year in 2021, reaching 4.7 million ounces of gold.
AngloGold poured its first gold at the Obuasi mine in December 2019 during Phase 1 of the project, and in October 2020 the firm reported that Phase 2 of the project is 68.4% complete. While the Obuasi project targets a ramp up to 2,000 tonnes per day (tpd), operational rates have been limited to 60.0-70.0% of capacity throughout much of 2020 amid Covid-19-induced labour shortages.
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According to the report, the country’s expected substantial growth next year will come on the back of achievement of steady operations at Phase 2 of AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi Project. This will sustain the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of the mining sub-sector.