Ghana planning to process 30% of its gold locally after taking over from South Africa as the top gold producer in Africa

This is to tap into the synergies along the value chain of the mining industry to ensure that the state derives fair returns from the extractive sector.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, who made the revelation said it was the government’s policy to add value to the country’s natural resources and urged multinational mining firms to help achieve that objective.

He said the government appreciated the cooperation of the Chamber of Mines on matters affecting the mining industry, adding that, “I trust that our partnership with the chamber will facilitate the pursuit of the best way to implement this initiative to further boost Ghana’s image as a credible mining destination.”

The minister was speaking at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra on Friday, June 14, 2019.

He expressed the hope that the initiative would enhance Ghana’s reputation as a mining hub.

A report from Bloomberg recently revealed that Ghana has taken over from South Africa as the leading producer of gold in Africa.

It said the success chalked by Ghana is because of friendlier policies, lower-cost mines and new development projects.

Mr Asomah-Cheremeh hence noted that the government had instituted many policies and strategies to grow the mining sector, key among them being enhancing good governance of the sector through transparent and effective utilisation of the revenue and making a deliberate effort to integrate the extractive sector into the economy.

Part of the policies and strategies, he said, was also to streamline the fiscal regime to make it appropriate and mutually beneficial for both investors and the host country.

“The implementation of such critical policies and strategies will help, in no small way, to provide the enabling environment for the mining sector to thrive even more,” he added.

In 2018, mining companies returned 74.7 percent of mineral export revenues through the commercial banks. This indicates that $2.8 billion out of the realised export receipts of $3.8 billion was returned.

In addition to that, direct employment by mining companies in 2018 alone stood at 10,109, of which 9,950 were Ghanaians.