Underground at 19, running Ashanti Goldfields at 36: how Sam Jonah rose through a mine he never owned

Sir Sam Jonah is the executive chairman of Jonah Capital, an investment company he founded in Johannesburg in the early 2000s, and has been Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast since 9 March 2002, according to his own biography, Wikipedia and GBC. He is a former President of AngloGold Ashanti. He rose from the mine floor to the top of Ashanti Goldfields without ever owning it. "I was an employee, I was using other people's funding including that of the country," he said on GTV in April 2022, as reported by Graphic Online.

Down the mine at 19

He was born on 19 November 1949, according to his own website, MyJoyOnline and Wikipedia, and turns 77 this month. Where he was born is disputed: his own site and MyJoyOnline say a military camp in Kibi, while Wikipedia and GhanaWeb's profile say Obuasi. Both his website and his 2024 Morgan State University speech, reported by MyJoyOnline, say he grew up in the mining town of Obuasi.

His father, Thomas Jonah, was a Second World War veteran and a strict parent who woke his children at five in the morning, according to MyJoyOnline in 2021 and Jonah's own 2024 speech. He went to Adisadel College in Cape Coast, his biography and Wikipedia say.

In 1969, aged 19 and straight after sixth form, he went underground at the Obuasi mine, according to his own website, Ashesi University, his 2022 GTV interview reported by GBC, and The Observer's 1999 profile. The Observer reported that he chose mining against his family's wishes. In his 2024 speech he said his mother did not want him in the mine. Some outlets, including Wikipedia, GBC and Graphic Online, give 1979 as the year he joined Ashanti. That is the year Imperial College lists for his master's degree, so it appears to mark his return after his studies in Britain.

He studied mining engineering at the Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall on a scholarship, then took a master's at Imperial College London, according to his biography, Wikipedia, MyJoyOnline and Imperial College.

The top job at 36

Ashanti Goldfields was not a Ghanaian-run company then. Lonrho, the British group led by Tiny Rowland, bought it in the late 1960s. The state took a 55% stake in 1972, leaving Lonrho with 45% until 1994, according to Reference for Business and Jonah's own account to Graphic Online in 2022.

He became deputy managing director in 1982, The Observer reported. In 1986, at 36, he took the top job, the first Ghanaian to run the company, according to his biography, Reference for Business, MyJoyOnline, Graphic Online and GBC. In his 2024 Morgan State speech he put his age at 37; he turned 37 in November 1986.

One mine to seven

By his own published account, Ashanti produced about 240,000 ounces of gold a year when he started; Reference for Business records 232,000 ounces in 1980. By 1999 output had passed 1.6 million ounces a year, The Northern Miner reported, and Reference for Business puts the 2000 figure at a company record of 1.74 million ounces. The company grew from one mine, Obuasi, to seven in four countries: Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, according to Reference for Business and MyJoyOnline.

In April 1994 Ashanti was privatised and listed in London and Accra, Reuters reported at the time. In 1996 it listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the first Ghanaian company to do so. TIME described it in 2004 as the first African operating company on the NYSE; Citi Newsroom has called it the second African company, and some outlets put the listing in 1994.

1999: "We were reckless"

In 1999 the company's bet that gold prices would stay low went wrong. Ashanti had sold future gold forward. When the gold price jumped in late 1999, the hedge book swung to a paper loss reported at between about US$450 million (The Northern Miner, early reports) and US$570 million (Mail & Guardian). TIME wrote in 2004 that the company "almost went under" after the decision.

"I am prepared to concede that we were reckless," Jonah said in November 1999, as reported by GhanaWeb and quoted again by billionaires.africa in 2026. In October 1999 Lonmin, which owned about a third of Ashanti, made a takeover bid. The Rawlings government blocked it, The Observer, the Mail & Guardian and GhanaWeb reported.

The merger and after

On 26 April 2004 Ashanti completed its merger with South Africa's AngloGold, creating AngloGold Ashanti, then the world's second-biggest gold miner, according to Reuters, TIME and MyJoyOnline. Reuters valued the deal at about US$1.3 billion on completion; other outlets give figures from US$1.09 billion to US$1.8 billion. Jonah became the merged company's executive President, his biography and TIME say, and MyJoyOnline reported that he left its board in February 2007.

In June 2003 he received an honorary knighthood (KBE) from the Prince of Wales, according to his biography, MyJoyOnline, Wikipedia and The Northern Miner. It is honorary because he is not a British citizen. He sat on the board of Vodafone from 2009 to 2019, his biography and Wikipedia say. In November 2025 EMY Africa named him its Ultimate Man of the Year, Citi Newsroom and MyJoyOnline reported.

The number he rejects

Net worth figures for Jonah circulate online, but none comes with a source, and billionaires.africa noted in June 2026 that Forbes has never ranked him. QMS News does not repeat them. Jonah himself rejects them. "News of my wealth has been grossly exaggerated," he said on GTV in September 2022, adding that it is crass to be defined by wealth, Graphic Online and Class FM reported.

THE WORTH is a QMS series on how Ghanaians built their wealth, told through the numbers. Episode one told the story of Osei Kwame Despite, episode two Ernest Ofori Sarpong.