The Ghana Gold Board has revised the rules governing the assessment of locally purchased gold, making the GoldBod XRF assay the definitive method for determining purity, pricing and payment from October 1, 2026.
Under a compliance notice issued on September 28, the Board said the traditional water density method will remain available only as an indicative assessment of gold purity and will no longer serve as the final basis for valuing gold doré.
The directive applies to GoldBod, licensed buyers and aggregators operating within Ghana’s formal gold trading system.
Water Density Purchases Face 0.7% Purity Discount
Under the new regime, X Ray Fluorescence, commonly known as XRF, will determine the purity used to calculate how much sellers are paid.
Where a licensed buyer genuinely cannot access XRF equipment because of operational or logistical constraints, the parties may still use water density.
The same option applies when a buyer and seller voluntarily agree to use the method. There is a cost attached.
Gold purchased on the basis of water density will attract a 0.7% purity discount on the purity reading produced by that method.
GoldBod said water density “shall be used solely as an indicative assessment of gold purity” rather than as the definitive measure for payment.
The latest notice adjusts an earlier GoldBod framework announced in August. That directive made XRF mandatory from September 1 and prescribed a minimum 0.5% discount when water density was used because XRF was unavailable.
GoldBod Adjusts XRF Tolerance Limit
The September directive also changes how differences between successive XRF results are handled.
Licensed buyers must now maintain a permissible purity difference of plus or minus 0.1% when comparing separate XRF reports for the same gold or transaction.
Any difference beyond that limit must undergo further verification before the transaction can be completed or reported to GoldBod.
The previous framework announced in August had prescribed a tighter plus or minus 0.05% tolerance between successive XRF assessments.
The adjustment therefore gives buyers a slightly wider permissible variation while maintaining XRF as the principal testing method.
Buyers Face Sanctions for Non Compliance
GoldBod has directed all licensed buyers and aggregators to ensure their operations are ready for the revised rules by October 1.
The notice will form part of the conditions attached to licences issued by the Board. Failure to comply may therefore trigger regulatory or enforcement action under the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025, Act 1140.
The regulator has been tightening controls across Ghana’s gold trading chain in recent months, including pricing, local refining and the methods used to determine purity. GoldBod earlier said its shift towards XRF was intended to improve accuracy and consistency in gold valuation.
For miners and traders, the practical effect is clear. From October, the purity recorded by an XRF machine will ordinarily determine the value of gold sold to GoldBod or its licensed buyers, while reliance on water density will come with a 0.7% adjustment.
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