Ghana’s Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) made a profit of GH₵1.1 billion in 2025. It also collected a record GH₵5.39 billion in mining royalties in just the first half of 2026.
In 2025, a new law changed how much of Ghana’s mining royalties MIIF gets to keep. Before, MIIF received 77.6% of royalties and 100% of dividends from mining companies. The new law cut this down to just 2%. That’s a huge drop. But even with less money coming in, MIIF still managed to post a solid profit and a stronger financial position. Its savings, known as retained earnings, grew by 35%, and its debts shrank by more than a third. Meanwhile, total royalties collected across the whole mining sector kept growing, rising from GH₵4.9 billion in 2024 to GH₵5.4 billion in 2025.
So far in 2026, royalty collections have jumped sharply. MIIF collected GH₵5.39 billion between January and June, more than double what it collected in the same period last year. To put that in perspective, the second quarter of 2026 alone brought in almost as much money as all of 2025 combined.
Big gold mining companies are behind most of this growth. They paid GH₵5.31 billion in royalties in the first half of 2026, nearly all of the total collected. This growth is being driven by high gold prices on world markets and a sliding-scale royalty system, which means companies pay more when gold prices are high. MIIF also credits stricter monitoring and site visits led by CEO Justina Nelson for improving how much companies pay. Smaller and medium-sized gold miners also did well, helped by the same high prices and better enforcement of unpaid royalties.
Not every mineral did as well. But sand royalties stood out, growing 136% compared to last year. MIIF says a new rule requiring companies to get MIIF’s approval before receiving a mining permit helped improve payment compliance.
CEO Justina Nelson is optimistic about the rest of 2026, pointing to strong gold production and continued enforcement efforts. But she also warned of risks ahead, including the possibility that gold prices could fall, mining operations could face disruptions, the manganese market remains weak, and illegal mining continues to affect the quarry, salt, and sand sectors. Nelson said staying in close contact with mining companies, along with stronger enforcement, will be key to keeping royalty growth on track through the rest of the year.
By Robert Anokye Gyamfi,Extractive Journalist.Ghana.