Lands Minister agrees to review Lithium deal if…
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, has given a condition based on which the current lithium mining lease agreement between Ghana and Barari DV will be reviewed.
Addressing the media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and mining experts at a Stakeholder Engagement on the Lithium Agreement organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), the Minister noted that Government is extremely satisfied with the current terms of the agreement as several factors were thoroughly considered in crafting the present agreement.
In view of that, the present lithium deal can only be reviewed if CSOs or experts provide concrete or superior proposals that will necessitate a review or change in the current deal.
“I think it’s important for me to point out that the government never rushed into signing this lease, not at all. And the government with the greatest of respect, went through a laborious, long and detailed processes in arriving at signing this lease with Barari DV.
“Between now and before the lease is put before Parliament, if there is any concrete proposals that mandate a review, it will be done but in the meantime the Government is fully satisfied with the terms of the agreement in regards to the royalty and carried interest rates because Government went through a laborious process to come to the present agreement,” he stated.
In October 2023, Ghana signed a 15-year lease Agreement with Barari BV Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium Limited for the mining of lithium in Eyowaa in the Central Region.
While government has hailed the terms of the agreement as historic, some civil society actors and individuals have raised concerns. The public discourse around this lithium agreement is understandable as the history of over a hundred years of mining has yielded little benefits for communities and the nation.
The mining lease agreement between Ghana and Barari DV Ghana Limited – subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium – for lithium extraction, is expected to be presented to Parliament for ratification by the first quarter of 2024.