Ghana's small-scale gold miners overtake majors as Latin American commodity exports climb

Ghana's gold production surged by 23.41 per cent to 5.94 million ounces in 2025, but the real story lies beneath the surface: for the first time in more than a hundred years, small-scale miners have eclipsed large-scale operators, contributing 52.4 per cent of national output. The figures, released by the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra late last week, show that the small-scale sector grew 63.82 per cent year-on-year to 3.11 million ounces, compared with a modest decline in industrial mining. Michael Edem Akafia, the chamber's outgoing president, attributed the shift to investment flows and sustained high prices, projecting at least six million ounces for 2026. Viewed from Accra, this structural transformation highlights both the dynamism and the regulatory challenges of a sector that now underpins the country's export earnings.

Across the Atlantic, South America is riding a similar commodity wave — but powered by industrial-scale extraction and future-facing minerals. Argentina's mining exports are forecast to exceed $9 billion in 2026, up from $6.075 billion in 2025, according to the Argentine Chamber of Mining Companies (CAEM). The lithium boom is the main driver, with projects expanding rapidly under a new investment regime, while gold and silver benefit from record international prices. "Mining reaffirmed its role as an engine of the national economy in 2025," the chamber noted, pointing to a 31 per cent increase that marked five consecutive years of expansion. Analysts in Buenos Aires say the sector could soon account for more than one in every ten dollars the country exports, a dramatic shift for a nation historically identified with grains and beef.

Brazil's agribusiness juggernaut continues to dominate trade figures. The sector exported $16 billion in May alone, representing just over half of all foreign sales — an 8.2 per cent rise from a year earlier, according to a municipal association study. The commodity-driven prosperity is spreading beyond mega-farms; almost 1,500 Brazilian municipalities registered crop shipments in the month, with the soy hub of Rio Verde, Goiás, pulling in $300.8 million. This geographic dispersal offers a political bulwark against protectionist pressures, even as economists in São Paulo warn that such concentration leaves the economy exposed to global price swings.

Argentina, meanwhile, is looking beyond annual cycles to a longer-range agricultural vision. A study by the Producir Conservando foundation suggests that with technological improvements and expanded nutrient use, the country's grain harvest could reach 177 million tonnes by the 2034/35 campaign — up from around 70 million tonnes two decades ago. Achieving that would require doubling the application of fertilisers and continued investment in genetics and no-till farming. The projection underscores how deeply the region's fortunes are tied to global demand for food and feed, even as the mining boom suggests a pivot towards the energy transition's raw materials.

For all the headline figures, reliance on primary commodities brings familiar vulnerabilities. Observers in London point to the Ghanaian case: the rise of artisanal mining raises urgent questions about environmental enforcement, informal labour, and gold smuggling. In South America, the scramble for lithium tests water-scarce regions and indigenous land rights. And while Brazil's agricultural miracle has lifted rural incomes, it remains at the mercy of trade policies in Beijing and Washington. The current bonanza, analysts warn, demands that governments invest windfall revenues wisely — to build industrial capacity and cushion against the next down-cycle.