Ghana to Harness Mining for Broad-Based Socio-Economic Development
The 5th Ghana Mining and Energy Summit (#GMES23) opened in at the Accra International Conference Centre on 7 June 2023. The theme of the 3-day event is “Harnessing Mining and Energy Potential for Sustainable National Development.”
The event is organized by the Ghana Chamber of Mines and brings together mining companies and other enterprises supporting the mining sector to discuss the way forward for the industry.
Ghana is also known as the Gold Coast and is currently African’s largest gold producer. It overtook South Africa in 2019 with 4.8 million ounces of output. Gold accounts for nearly half of the gross value of exports of Ghana. In addition to gold, Ghana has known reserves of diamond, manganese, bauxite and iron ore, to name a few. As a matter of fact, the world largest gold company Newmont operates one of the largest gold mines in the world in Ahafo.
Ghanaian Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, delivered the keynote address. Minister Jinapor highlighted the synergies between the mining and energy sectors which should be harnessed to pave the way for sustainable industrialization.
“The convergence of these two sectors, mining, and energy, presents us with a unique opportunity to shape our destiny and build a sustainable and prosperous nation using clean energy and responsible mining practices.”
Ghanaian Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Jinapor
Minister Jinapor believes the exploitation of Ghana’s mineral resources should be done in a manner that respects environmental protection and energy efficiency in line with the fight against #ClimateChange.
In his address, the CEO of the Chamber of Mines, Dr Sulemanu Koney, underscored the importance of safety and well-being of the workforce and community around the mining project. In addition, he expressed the need to provide a conducive #BusinessClimate which will give more confidence to investors to pour more #FDI into the mining sector.
In 2020, Ghana put into effect a regulation to promote Local Content and Local Participation called Legislative Instrument 2431 (2020) on Minerals and Mining. In addition to a minimum 10% stake by the Government of Ghana in mining operations, the 2020 set of regulations requires miners to undertake a Localization Program with specific targets for local recruitment and the highest GM position being reserved for a Ghanaian. It also establishes targets for procurement of local goods and services. Finally, miners are required to list at least 20% of their equity on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The mining project should enhance local capacity, promote social inclusion, and nurture a sense of shared ownership in order to lead to a broad-based socio-economic development. It is imperative to strike the right balance between the profits of the investors and the benefits of the host country for the long-term and healthy development of the sector. As such the trend and roadmap for mining is to promote greater localization, progressing from Local Content, Local Participation to Local Value Addition (#LVA).