By: Billionaires Africa

Ibrahim Mahama took control of the Damang gold mine less than a month ago. His first instinct was not to sell to the international market. It was to hand every gram to Ghana's central bank.

Damang Gold Mine Limited, the vehicle through which Mahama's Engineers and Planners Company Limited acquired the Damang mine in Ghana's Western Region, delivered approximately 110 kilograms of gold, worth roughly $11.8 million at current prices, to the Ghana Gold Board's assay laboratory at the Accra International Airport on April 30. The entire first production run went to GoldBod, which will assay, value and purchase the gold on behalf of the Bank of Ghana before refining and adding it to the central bank's external reserve holdings.

GoldBod chief executive Sammy Gyamfi received a delegation from the mine led by Mahama personally and used the occasion to make a pointed observation about the rest of the industry. Artisanal and small-scale miners contributed an estimated 104 metric tonnes of gold generating approximately $10 billion to Ghana's reserves. Large-scale mining companies, which operate some of the richest deposits in the country, were directing far less of their output through national reserve channels.

"This bold and patriotic step by Damang Gold Mine must challenge us as a nation to begin a serious conversation about the need for large-scale mining companies to contribute meaningfully to Ghana's gold reserve accumulation," Gyamfi said.

The transaction is the first visible implementation of the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme, the government's policy framework approved by Parliament and designed to channel domestically produced gold directly into the Bank of Ghana's reserves. Paul Bleboo, head of gold management at the Bank of Ghana, said the gold supplied would play a critical role in boosting the country's reserve position and cushioning the cedi against external shocks.

Damang Mine has been in Mahama's hands for only weeks. Engineers and Planners was awarded the Damang mining lease on April 7 after a competitive tender process in which the company scored highest across technical expertise, methodology and local content criteria. The handover from Gold Fields, which operated the asset in Ghana's Western Region for nearly three decades, was completed at a formal ceremony on April 18.

To back the acquisition, Stanbic Bank Ghana and Standard Bank of South Africa arranged a $205 million syndicated loan with Ecobank Ghana and Absa Bank Ghana as participating lenders, structured to support expanded operations at both Damang and the nearby Tarkwa mine.

Engineers and Planners has publicly stated plans to invest approximately $1.2 billion across the two operations and has already dispatched 30 Caterpillar 785D dump trucks to site. The mine employs more than 2,000 workers, and President John Dramani Mahama, Ibrahim's elder brother, has directed that there be no layoffs during the transition.

The political dimension of the transaction has not gone unnoticed. Ibrahim Mahama is the brother of the sitting president, and his mine is being held up by the government as the model it wants every large-scale mining operator to follow. Critics have questioned whether the tender process was sufficiently arms-length. The government has maintained that the award was made transparently on merit.

Whatever the politics, the economics of the first delivery are straightforward. One hundred and ten kilograms of gold, valued at approximately $11.8 million, is now headed into Ghana's central bank reserves. Mahama has made his position clear from the first gram.