Many countries around the world—Australia, the United States, and Korea, to name a few—have rallied behind gold as a financial safe haven at the turn of the decade, and West Africa seems primed to be a new(er) source of the precious metal in the near future.
Miners and investors alike have started prospecting in historically gold-rich regions in West Africa, like the Birimian belts in Ghana, following years of slowing mineral exploration in other regions on the continent. It is no coincidence, after all, that “the Gold Coast” was the old name for Ghana prior to its independence.
Felix Njini of Business Live writes, in past years “the vastness of the region and political insecurity in some areas mean its riches remain mostly untapped.” However, “as prices rally and the industry at the southern tip of the continent keeps shrinking,” heads are turning to the largely relatively unexplored West Africa, where gold deposits are shallower and more easily accessible compared to other regions that have been mined in the past, like South Africa.
Industry heavyweights like Iamgold and AngloGold are among those turning heads. The regional vice president for Iamgold stated “most of West Africa’s gold deposits have yet to be found and mined,” alluding to the strong potential for industry growth and influence.
*Source: Business Live