Silicon Palms

Tag: Gold

  • Environmentally Responsible Gold Mining in Ghana

    Environmentally Responsible Gold Mining in Ghana

    A North American team are using Responsible Gold Mining and best practices for operating and producing Ghana Gold Export. The objective is to provide experience from Canada gold production in Ghana, also to develop trade with local miners and experts on the ground, to participate with the already well-established co-operative in the goldfields of Ghana.

    Responsible gold mining and its associated activities can have a transformative effect on socio-economic development in countries where gold is found. When produced in conformance to high social, environmental and safety standards, gold provides employment opportunities, improved infrastructure and tax revenues. It can also drive foreign direct investment and generate foreign exchange.

    In 2013 the Environmentally Responsible Gold Mining industry made an economic contribution of more than US$171 billion to the top 15 gold-mining economies. Ghana is the world’s 7th largest producer of gold; producing over 102 metric tons of gold and the 10th largest producer of gold in the world in 2012; producing 89 metric tons of gold. Ghana is the 2nd largest producer of gold on the Africa continent behind South Africa. Ghana has the 9th largest reserves, and is the 9th largest producer, of diamonds in the world

    TSM is our reference guide and “is fast becoming a vehicle to promote best practices throughout the industry at the global level, and Canada is really an integral part of that,” we believe that; “At the end of the day it benefits our industry.” It’s our duty to honor the TSM wherever in the world we mine gold, to stop dirty gold, reduce environmental damage and end unsafe mining practices.

    What is TSM?

    Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) is a commitment by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) to responsible mining. It is a set of tools and indicators to drive performance and ensure that mining risks are managed responsibly at its members’ facilities. Adhering to the principles of TSM, members demonstrate leadership by:

    • Engaging with communities
    • Driving world-leading environmental practices
    • Committing to the safety and health of employees and surrounding communities

    The program was established in 2004 and its main objective is to enable mining companies to meet society’s needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most socially, economically and environmentally responsible way.

    TSM’s core strengths are:

    Accountability: Participation in TSM is mandatory for all MAC members. Assessments are conducted at the facility level where the mining activity takes place—the only program in the world to do this in the sector. This provides local communities with a meaningful view of how a nearby mine is faring.

    Transparency: Members commit to a set of TSM Guiding Principles and report their performance against the program’s 23 indicators annually in MAC’s TSM Progress Reports. Each facility’s results are publicly available, and are externally verified every three years.

    Credibility: TSM includes ongoing consultation with a national Community of Interest (COI) Advisory Panel. This multi-stakeholder group helps MAC members and communities of interest foster dialogue, improve the industry’s performance and shape the program for continual advancement.

    Source: The Mining Association of Canada Gold Ring photo by Felipe Salgado on Unsplash

    Responsible Gold Mining Photo by Bethan Abra on Unsplash

  • Doré bars from the Gold Coast

    Doré bars from the Gold Coast

    An 1850 map showing the Akan Kingdom of Ashanti within the Guinea region and surrounding regions in West Africa

    When Portuguese mariners first dropped anchor in the mouth of the river Pra in what is now Ghana, they heard of goldfields so rich that for the following five centuries the entire region became known as the Gold Coast. The promise of wealth sparked a rush to grab land, build forts, trade slaves and secure bullion, which poured into treasuries in Europe.

    Early European contact by the Portuguese people, who came to the region in the 15th century to trade and then established the Portuguese Gold Coast (Costa do Ouro), focused on the extensive availability of gold. The Portuguese built a trading lodge at a coastal settlement called Anomansah (the perpetual drink) which they renamed São Jorge da Mina.

    Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine Castle), also known as Castelo da Mina or simply Mina (or Feitoria da Mina), in present-day Elmina, Ghana

    The coat of arms depicts two animals: the tawny eagle (Aquila rapax, a very large bird that lives in the savannas and deserts; 35% of Ghana’s landmass is desert, 35% is forest, 30% is savanna) and the lion (Panthera leo, a big cat); a ceremonial sword, a heraldic castle on a heraldic sea, a cocoa tree and a mine shaft representing the industrial mineral wealth of Ghana, and a five-pointed black star rimmed with gold representing the mineral gold wealth of Ghana and the lodestar of the Ghanaian people. It also has the legend Freedom and Justice.

    Africa’s biggest gold producer, in 2018 Ghana shipped almost $6bn of the shiny stuff, its single biggest export. 

    A doré bar is a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver. It is usually created at the site of a mine and then transported to a refinery for further purification.

    The proportions of silver and gold can vary widely. Doré bars weigh as much as 25 kg.

    During the nineteenth-century gold rushes, gold nuggets and dust would be melted into crude gold bars mistakenly called “bullion” by miners. They were, more accurately, doré bars with higher contents of silver and other adulterants than mints of the world would accept. Mint and private assayers would then refine the doré bars to an acceptable purity, 999 fine, gold bullion, the silver and base metals removed.

    By the time of the California gold rush, mints were moving away from the age-old process of cupellation to “part” bullion and moving toward the acid refining process developed by chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac for the French mint. By the time of the Klondike gold rush, mints were replacing Gay-Lussac’s acid process and introducing electrolysis to refine doré bars into 999.9 purity gold bullion.

    Ghana produces gold into doré bar for export and this presents the opportunity for fortune hunters, to buy gold in doré bar and transport to the refinery for the profit found in the price spread. Rewards are golden to those that beat the odds of the risk of speculating and transporting the gold from it’s source to it’s end use as refined 24 carrot gold bullion.

    Doré bars from the Gold Coast are something worth knowing and I am learning by doing and have embarked upon, perhaps the greatest, but certainly the most interesting, adventure of my life. Yes, I caught gold-fever, like millions before me, I’ve invested in a gold mining operation in Africa.

    I have a plan to help the people who work on the ground to mine the gold and I have a dream to help Africa and the people of the promised land. Gold is as fundamental as bread, everyone understands it and wants it because it represents life and living. There’s enough to go around, provided people don’t hoard more than they need, therein lies the problem.

    Stay tuned as we witness the Quantum Financial System monetize assets wherever they are stored in a participating bullion bank. In the future you’ll be able to store your gold and spend it when you need it.