Government to set up US$450m manganese refinery, ban export of raw bauxite

The Government is to set up a US$450 million refinery to refine manganese produced in the country.

The country would also ban the export of bauxite in its raw state by passing a new Legislative Instrument (LI).

Again, the government would give priority to Ghanaian investors who would want to acquire Newmont Corporation’s third largest mine in the country – Akyem Mine, in the Eastern Region.

Those efforts, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said were aimed at ensuring value for money and speeding up the nation’s industrialisation agenda.

The President said this during his delivery of the 2024 message of the State of the Nation in Parliament on Tuesday, February 27.

“We are implementing the Four Project Agenda of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), with Projects one and two having already taken off and last month, we signed an agreement for the implementation of the Project,” he said.

“We will lay before this august House, at this First Meeting of this Session of Parliament, a Legislative Instrument to prohibit the export of bauxite in its raw state. We are, also, in the concluding phase of discussions for the establishment of a four hundred and fifty million US dollar (US$450 million) refinery to refine the manganese we produce,” he said.

To add value to the volumes of gold produced in the country, the President said a 400 kilogramme capacity gold refinery had been constructed through a public private partnership, and was at the final stages of negotiations for a London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Certificate.

“For our green minerals, including lithium, we have put in place a policy for their exploitation and management, to ensure beneficiation across the value chain of these critical minerals,” the President said.

On the Akyem Mine, which produced 420,000 ounces of gold in 2022, President Akufo-Addo said: “As part of Government’s policy to indigenise the mining sector, we will engage with Newmont to give priority to Ghanaian investors who will want to acquire this mine to ensure that our mineral resources better benefit the Ghanaian people.”

He said last year, Ghana regained her position as the leading producer of gold in Africa, with four million ounces,  having overtaken South Africa.

“This is as a result of the progressive policies we have been implementing, which have led to the revival of dormant mines like the Obuasi and Bibiani Mines, and the expansion of existing ones,” he said.

“The reduction in withholding tax on unprocessed gold by small scale miners, from three percent (3%) to one and a half percent (1.5%), has resulted in some nine hundred percent (900%) increment in gold export from the small-scale sector, over the last two (2) years,” the President noted.

The President said his government was committed to protecting the nation’s forest and wildlife resources, while reclaiming degraded forests.

In that regard, he said 42 million trees had been planted over the last three years, under the Green Ghana Project, whilst 690,000 hectares of degraded forest had been cultivated between 2017 and 2022, under the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy.

Source: GNA