The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC), Dr Toni Aubynn, has called on Ghana to take a leadership role in advancing a regionally integrated minerals market in Africa, stressing that the country stands to gain significantly from such an initiative.
Dr Aubynn made the remarks on Thursday, 29 January 2026, during a panel discussion at the Africa Trade Summit themed “Aligning Policy, Regulation and Institutions for Integrated Minerals Markets.”
According to him, African countries must move away from operating in isolation and instead leverage the opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to collaborate and maximise value from their natural resources.
He emphasised that regional integration efforts should prioritise value addition, mineral processing and refining, rather than the continued export of raw minerals. Dr Aubynn further noted that achieving meaningful local participation in the mining sector would require deliberate and targeted incentives for domestic investors across the continent.
He also commended the establishment of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), describing it as a strategic government intervention aimed at regulating and strengthening control over gold exports from the small-scale mining sector.
Dr Aubynn’s contribution reinforced the growing call for coordinated policy, regulatory alignment and institutional collaboration to unlock Africa’s full mineral potential.