Newmont completes $1bn sale of Ghana's Akyem gold mine to Zijin

Newmont Corporation completed the sale of its Akyem gold mine in Ghana to Zijin Mining Group in August 2025, closing a transaction first announced in October 2024. Under the deal's terms, Newmont received $900m in cash on initial closing, with the remaining $100m held back pending the satisfaction of a specific condition: ratification by Ghana's Parliament of an extension to the mine's operating lease. That ratification came through in 2025, triggering the final payment and formally ending Newmont's ownership of a mine it had operated since production began in October 2013.

Part of a broader clear-out

Akyem was one of several assets Newmont identified as non-core following its 2023 acquisition of Newcrest Mining, as the world's largest gold miner by market value narrowed its portfolio to a smaller number of long-life, so-called Tier 1 mines. The Ghanaian mine, while a solid producer, did not fit that profile as well as Newmont's larger operations elsewhere, making it a natural candidate for disposal even as Ghana remains one of Africa's most important gold-producing jurisdictions.

Zijin's African build-out continues

For Zijin, the Akyem purchase was one leg of a rapid expansion into African gold that has since included the acquisition of Ghana's regulatory and operational relationships, ahead of its subsequent, much larger pursuit of Allied Gold's Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and Ethiopian assets. Combined, the deals have made Zijin one of the largest foreign gold mine owners on the continent within the space of about two years, a pace of dealmaking that has outstripped most Western and African-focused rivals.

What it means for Ghana

The change of ownership does not alter Akyem's day-to-day operations, but it does shift a significant Ghanaian gold export stream from an American to a Chinese parent company, part of a broader pattern of Chinese capital consolidating positions across the region's gold and lithium sectors. Ghana's government, for its part, secured both the lease ratification payment and continuity of production and employment at one of its established gold mines.

Newmont's broader divestment programme, of which Akyem formed one part, has been closely watched by investors assessing whether the company's post-Newcrest portfolio can deliver the promised improvement in average mine quality, making the clean, fully paid completion of the Akyem sale a modest positive data point in that assessment.

Sources

• African Mining Market: Newmont finalises its US$1 billion sale of the Akyem gold mine to Zijin Mining Group, 15 Aug 2025
• Newmont: Newmont Announces Akyem Mining Lease Ratification, Unlocking $100 Million Payment, 01 Aug 2025
• Investing News Network: Newmont Divests Akyem Gold Mine to Zijin Mining in US$1 Billion Deal, 09 Oct 2024