In Ghana, owning or leasing land does not give you the gold beneath it, and holding a mineral right does not make you the owner of the surface. Gold investors deal with two systems at once: a land system dominated by customary owners and a mineral licensing system controlled by the state. Here is how they fit together, and what to check before paying.

Contents

Key points Who owns land in Ghana Minerals belong to the state, but the surface still matters Leases, registration and the rules for non-citizens Due diligence on land: practical steps Common red flags Sources

Key points

Most land in Ghana is customary land held by stools, skins, clans and families; published estimates put the share at around 80 per cent.
Minerals are vested in the President in trust for the people. Mineral rights come from the Minister on the Minerals Commission’s recommendation, not from landowners.
Mineral right holders must still respect surface rights and compensate owners and lawful occupiers, and they bear the cost of resettling inhabitants who choose resettlement.
Non-citizens cannot hold freehold land in Ghana, and a lease to a non-citizen cannot exceed 50 years at any one time.
Official searches, checks on the grantor’s authority, Lands Commission concurrence and prompt registration are the main protections against multiple sales and title disputes.
Mining law is changing: a draft Minerals and Mining Bill, 2026 is before Parliament, a revised version is reportedly expected to replace it, and its final content is not settled.

Who owns land in Ghana

The Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) describes the allodial title as the highest interest in land, held by the State, a stool or skin, a clan or family, or an individual. Most land is customary. USAID’s LandLinks country profile says approximately 80 per cent of land is vested in stools, skins, families or clans, and the World Bank estimates that about 80 per cent of landholders hold land under customary law.

Under Article 267(1) of the 1992 Constitution, stool lands vest in the appropriate stool on behalf of, and in trust for, its subjects. Act 1036 treats those who manage customary land as fiduciaries and makes a breach of that duty an offence. It also requires occupants of stools and skins and heads of families or clans to obtain the consent and concurrence of members before disposing of land.

Lands Commission: manages public lands and land vested in the President (Articles 257 and 258), and handles searches, consents and registration.
Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands: set up under Article 267(2) and Act 481, it collects rents, royalties and other revenue from stool lands and pays it out. Under Article 267(6), 10 per cent goes to the Office for administrative expenses; the remaining 90 per cent is shared 25 per cent to the stool (through the traditional authority), 20 per cent to the traditional authority and 55 per cent to the district assembly.
Customary Land Secretariats: Act 1036 requires landowning stools, skins, clans and families to set these up to record transactions, and to send records of those transactions to the Lands Commission and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands at the end of every three months (section 14).

Minerals belong to the state, but the surface still matters

Article 257(6) of the Constitution vests every mineral in its natural state in, under or upon any land in Ghana in the President, on behalf of and in trust for the people. The Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), most recently amended by the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), repeats this in section 1. Nobody may search for or mine minerals without a mineral right (section 9), which the Minister grants on the Minerals Commission’s recommendation (section 5). Landowners cannot mine without a licence either. Small-scale licences are reserved for Ghanaian citizens (section 83), and the President may acquire land needed for mining, or authorise its occupation and use (section 2).

Surface owners keep real rights. Under section 72, a mineral right holder must exercise its rights subject to the limits that other laws place on surface rights, and a lawful occupier may keep grazing or farming where this does not interfere with mining. Inside a mining lease area, however, owners and occupiers need the lease holder’s consent (or the Minister’s, if the holder unreasonably refuses) to put up buildings.

Under section 73, owners and lawful occupiers are entitled to compensation, set by agreement or, failing that, by the Minister in consultation with the government’s land valuation agency. Section 74 covers losses such as use of the land surface, damage to buildings, and lost earnings and crops. Inhabitants who prefer resettlement must be moved to suitable alternative land at the holder’s cost. A claimant may go to the High Court only if dissatisfied with the holder’s offer or the Minister’s decision (section 75).

Local voices are gaining weight. In March 2025 the government revoked small-scale licences issued after 7 December 2024, and the Lands Minister said new small-scale applications would start at district level, with chiefs and the District Chief Executive involved: “If they don’t agree, there is no licence.” In July 2026 he said that under the proposed mining law, host communities would give recommendations before applications reach Accra. In October 2026, Reuters reported that a revised version would replace the draft bill before Parliament, so treat these proposals as pending. Separately, in December 2025 Ghana revoked L.I. 2462, which had let the President authorise mining in forest reserves.

Leases, registration and the rules for non-citizens

Article 266 of the Constitution and section 10 of Act 1036 prohibit freehold interests for non-citizens and cap any lease to a non-citizen at 50 years at any one time. Under Act 1036, a company is treated as a non-citizen if more than 40 per cent of its equity shareholding or ownership is held by non-citizens. No freehold may be created out of stool, skin, clan or family land, even for Ghanaians (Article 267(5); section 9(2) of Act 1036).

Stool land may not be disposed of or developed unless the Regional Lands Commission has certified that this is consistent with the area’s development plan (Article 267(3)). The Lands Commission’s service charter lists concurrence for leases of customary land and consent for later assignments, subleases and mortgages; registering a stool land transaction requires evidence of either.

Act 1036 has three systems: deeds registration, title registration in declared districts, and recording of customary transactions by the secretariats. A registered title is indefeasible (section 119), though the customary rights of a person in actual occupation can still override it (section 121). Under deeds registration, instruments generally rank in the order they are presented (section 229), so a delay can let a later buyer get ahead of you. In October 2026 the Lands Commission said it plans to restrict registration of later transactions based on unregistered interests once Parliament passes the necessary legislative instrument; the measure is not yet in force.

Due diligence on land: practical steps

Search officially at the Lands Commission, with a site plan. The Commission warns that a search report does not guarantee the land is free of competing claims.
Check the grantor’s authority: which stool, skin or family holds the allodial title, who must sign under customary law, and what the Customary Land Secretariat has recorded. For land acquired for value during a marriage, get the other spouse’s written consent.
Obtain concurrence, stamp and register promptly.
Survey and walk the boundaries. The Lands Commission urges buyers to verify ownership, inspect boundaries and confirm the seller’s authority before paying in full.
Check for mineral rights on the Minerals Commission’s online mining cadastre, confirm with the Commission in writing, and check whether the land lies in a forest reserve.
Identify occupiers. Farmers and residents affect compensation, and a mining lease holder must survey crops with them present.
Use a Ghanaian lawyer and a licensed surveyor who are independent of the seller.

Common red flags

A non-citizen is offered “freehold”, or a lease longer than 50 years.
A seller claims the land comes “with the gold”, or that the landowner can authorise mining.
Only one family member signs, or a farmer or caretaker on stool land offers to sell it.
Pressure to pay in full before a search, or payments not recorded in the conveyance.
Unclear boundaries or family disputes, which the Lands Commission names among the causes of multiple sales and litigation.
Land guards on site. Act 1036 makes using force, intimidation or extortion to control land an offence carrying prison terms of up to 15 years (section 12).
A small-scale licence issued after 7 December 2024, or a site inside a forest reserve.

Sources

This article is for information only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules and figures change; confirm the current position with the relevant authority or a qualified adviser before acting.

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