Ghana Chamber of Mines has warned that if the government acts in ways that damage investors’ confidence in gold production, Ghana can lose its status as Africa’s top leading producer of the metal. Regional rivals, like Côte d’Ivoire, are rapidly taking steps to lure mining investment and vastly increase gold output over the next decade, the Chamber said. The warning follows the Institute of Economic Affairs calling on the government to refuse a 20-year extension of the lease of Gold Fields’ Tarkwa Mine to lock in state control and boost local involvement in the mining industry. At a press conference, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ing. Ken Ashigbey, said that while reform in the mining sector is required, the investment climate in Ghana must remain stable and predictable if the country wants to remain competitive.
Government policy that is perceived as unfriendly to investors may dissuade foreign and local capital from investing in the country, given that other African countries are stepping up their moves to lure miners to come to their shores, he said. “Some of the decisions that we made is why we decided to get to the No. 1 mining destination in Africa. Let’s not reverse them,” Ing. Ashigbey stated. Côte d’Ivoire has a clear long-term plan of how to become Africa’s most dominant gold producer in the next ten years, adding to intensifying competition for gold in the West African gold industry, he added.
Ing. Ashigbey explained that both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire enjoy similar geological advantages and that the number of gold deposits stretched across the sub-region allowed investors to easily transfer their capital to countries which are thought to be more investor friendly and stable. The Chamber also noted that mining companies and Ghanaian entrepreneurs were seeking to invest more in Côte d’Ivoire in light of the country’s favourable investment climate. Ing. Ashigbey stressed that Ghana needs to not just lure foreign mining investment, but retain the current local players in the sector.
Editor:
Obiri-Yeboah
