Chamber of Mines pushes for confidence in mining

The West African Mining and Power Conference and Exhibition 2016 has been held, with a call on government and stakeholders to help foster confidence in the mining sector to ensure that it remains viable in the face of economic challenges while contributing to transformation of the sub-region.

The three-day event, under the theme ‘Sustaining Mining and Power Investments: Meeting Stakeholder Expectations in a Challenging Global Environment’, brought together industry players, miners, policymakers and mining sector stakeholders.  

Speaking at the opening session of the Conference in Accra, Mr. Kufuor said the unstable power supply has led to spending about 20 percent of mineral revenues on power alone.

He said in 2015 US$314million was spent by the mines on power supply.

Mr. Kweku A. Awotwi, an energy and power expert, said the energy crisis has left the mining industry uncertain of the future. He said for a capital intensive business such as mining, uncertainty about the security and stability of power supply impacted significantly on investment.

Nii Osah Mills, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources whose speech was read on his behalf, said the key roles of mining in sustainable development include a contribution to economic growth through investment injection, employment and personal income generation; government revenue in terms of royalties, taxes, property rates and foreign exchange generation.

He said mining also provides mineral-based products for the use of society, adding that minerals serve as the building block of all human activities -- ranging from construction materials to inputs for manufacturing of automobiles and other products.

Nii Osah Mills said the mining industry transfers technology to other industries and also contributes to infrastructure development.

Available data indicate that total investment into the mining sector from 1980 to 2015 was some US$16billion since the sector currently contributes 14 percent of government domestic revenue, as captured by the Ghana Revenue Authority’s Domestic Tax Division.

Commenting on the mining environment, Nii Osah Mills said the country has the requisite environment that serious investors need.

This, he said, includes the availability of abundant resources with basic geo-scientific data, political stability, an attractive investment framework, and legislative and institutional frameworks to reduce corruption and enforce the rule of law and transparency in the management of mineral resources.

Nii Osah Mills confirmed that the country has a robust, transparent, effective and time-tested legal framework that is friendly for investment in the mining sector.

The major minerals currently being mined in commercial quantities, including gold, diamond, bauxite and manganese, have positioned the country as a conducive investment environment created by successive governments since 1980, and this had led to a significant inflow of mining sector investment.

“Government will continue to work at improving its facilitation role while working with all other stakeholders toward achieving sustainable investments in the sector. I challenge all other stakeholders to play their part so that we can foster sustainable development through mining,” he said.

He said government is working hard to ensure that the energy challenge facing the country, and especially industry, becomes a thing of the past. 

“In terms of power requirements, Ghana’s recent capacity shortages - exacerbated by low levels of water in our hydro dams and the West African Gas Pipeline Company’s gas supply challenges - have resulted in load management that has impacted power supply to the mines,” the minister observed.

“Completion of the country’s third hydro-electric dam (Bui Dam), the Ghana National Gas Project utilising gas from our oil fields and the West African Gas Pipeline will all add power to the country’s energy mix, which will improve both power availability and reliability - leading to stabilising the cost of power,” he said.