Amidst Africa’s Crackdown on Illicit Mining, Liberian Government Endorses Historic Gold Governance Framework

Accra/Monrovia: In a daring effort that is expected to redefine the future of the continent’s natural mineral economy, the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, has joined international and continental counterparts in ratifying the preliminary outcomes of the 2025 Mining in Motion summit in Accra, Ghana.

The event, which took place on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, is said to be an explosive continental forum poised to dismantle the continent’s illicit artisanal gold trade and enforce the formalization of small-scale mining by 2027.

By: Abraham Sylvester Panto

The summit’s opening, led by Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, who was flanked by Ashanti King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and former President John Kufuor, marked a turning point in how African mineral-rich nations intend to confront unregulated gold extraction, opaque trade chains, and the cross-border flow of untaxed, undocumented mineral wealth.

In one of the most consequential policy realignments in Africa’s recent mining history, Liberia’s Mines and Energy Minister Wilmot Paye endorsed several of the summit’s breakthrough resolutions, including the formation of a regional compliance task force to track gold exports, enforce traceability mechanisms, and penalize trafficking networks operating within the informal mining economy.

Key among the bold commitments is the adoption of a draft framework for a Pan-African Gold Certification System, designed to shut down parallel gold markets and replace them with traceable, state-backed export channels. The Pan-Africa Gold Certification System is an initiative already backed by the World Gold Council and slated for implementation in Liberia under a joint pilot with Ghana and Sierra Leone.

According to an official release issued on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, Minister Paye’s technical delegation has entered strategic planning sessions to prepare for Liberia’s integration into a new Regional Mining Governance Index (RMGI). The sessions will rank countries based on environmental enforcement, miner registration systems, licensing transparency, and value chain monitoring.

With financial support pledged from the World Bank and India’s Ministry of Mines, the summit has also approved an ASM Modernization Fund, from which Liberia could draw resources to establish mobile mineral buying centers in mining corridors like Gbarpolu, River Gee, and Grand Cape Mount. The ASM modernization aimed to break the grip of illegal buyers and strengthen domestic revenue retention.

Breaking from traditional summit routines, the Mining in Motion gathering placed local governance at the center of continental mining reform, calling for counties like Liberia to immediately decentralize mineral oversight, digitize rural mine records, and involve traditional authorities in ASM regulation, thereby embedding accountability structures in communities historically left out of formal systems.

Among the more urgent outcomes is the joint decision to criminalize the export of uncertified gold across ECOWAS borders beginning January 2026, a measure that will require Liberia to intensify port inspections, revise customs procedures, and update its mining legislation to match the new continental code currently under development.