Mines Chamber to conduct study into Ghana being a mining support services hub
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, has disclosed the Chamber’s readiness to conduct a study aimed at developing modalities to position Ghana as a major mining support services centre in the West African region.
The Chamber last year revealed its goal of making the country a mining support services hub in the sub region.
According to the Chamber, the study is expected to map out the competitive advantage that Ghana has over other countries and to make recommendations to build and sustain support services companies to provide inputs to the mining sector in the sub-region competitively.
It is also aimed at taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
“Harnessing opportunities that the African Continental Free trade Area presents, requires that we build resilient regional value chains around strategic sectors such as mining, which has become the bulwark in West Africa in the last few years. It is our considered view that the study will be the Chamber’s contribution to give sustainable competitive advantage to Ghana,” said President of the Chamber, Eric Asubonteng.
Speaking to the media, Mr Koney, noted that the Chamber is currently seeking the services of a consortium to help it undertake the study.
“Making Ghana a mining support services hub is one of the flagship programmes of the chamber and we are in the process of getting a consortium to help us conduct the study and we believe there is so much opportunity in the mining industry which we can take advantage of, for some of the opportunities we have a competitive advantage,” he stated.
Speaking further, Mr Koney stated that the study will reveal quantum of opportunities present and where the opportunities can be located in the sub region, as well as the various bottlenecks present and how they can be resolved.
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“We have gold mining taking place seriously in the sub region, for instance Nigeria, South Africa, Mali and Senegal are going into gold production and it makes sense that we having the first mover advantage, we liberalise the sector even before they do, and certainly we should be able to take advantage of the fiscal revenue and employment which will be engendered. We believe there is a huge opportunity in the sub region we have to take advantage of and until we do the study and understand where these opportunities are and the quantum of it and what we need to do to overcome these bottlenecks we will not be able to harness the opportunities optimally,” he stated.
Mining support services include the provision of support services such as drilling and blasting as well as the supply of mining equipment and spare parts to mining firms.
Meanwhile, Mr Koney, has said taxes and levies on exploration investments into the country’s mining sector are currently making Ghana unattractive for exploration companies.
According to him, exploration companies should be allowed by the State to use 100 percent of their exploration investment in mineral exploration – particularly gold – rather than being made to pay taxes and other levies before even breaking the ground to find the mineral.
“It’s one of the concerns we had and the need to provide a fertile and conducive environment for exploration companies to use practically 100 percent of their exploration investment into exploration, rather than paying taxes and other levies even before they break ground.”
“So we continue to advocate and engage with stakeholders for this to happen, and our expectation is that in the not too distant future, policy makers will hear our cry and will put in place the kind of policies that will allow exploration companies to operate competitively in the country,” he stated.
