Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ing. Kenneth Ashigbey, has warned that the decline in Ghana's large-scale mining sector could hurt the country's future gold production.

Speaking on Channel One TV's The Point of View on Monday, August 17, he said Ghana must act to strengthen large-scale mining to keep gold production strong in the long term.

Ing. Ashigbey said the real concern is not that artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has overtaken large-scale mining in gold output. The bigger issue, he said, is that large-scale production itself is declining.

Decline in exploration a concern

He said this trend is especially worrying because large-scale mining plays a key role in exploration. Exploration is needed to find new gold deposits and keep production going.

He said Ghana's ability to stay Africa's leading gold producer depends on reversing the decline in large-scale mining and increasing investment in exploration.

"The worry is more for the fact that the large-scale sector has declined. And then also the fact that the things, the leading factors that would lead you to growth, are not pointing in the right direction," he said.

Ing. Ashigbey also said strengthening the large-scale sector would promote more responsible mining and provide sustainable jobs.

Small-scale production rises

Data from the Chamber's 2025 industry assessment show that small-scale gold production rose by 63.82%, from 1.90 million ounces in 2024 to 3.11 million ounces in 2025.

This increase pushed the sector's share of national gold production to 52.4%, making it the largest contributor to Ghana's gold output for the first time.

Large-scale gold production, meanwhile, fell by 2.98%, from 2.92 million ounces in 2024 to 2.83 million ounces in 2025. Its share of national gold production dropped from 60.6% to 47.6% as a result.

This development, Mr Nyarko said, must be considered alongside the need to strengthen the formal mining sector and ensure Ghana gets maximum economic value from its mineral resources.