The National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, says that the NDC has plans of employing the services of Ghanaian-owned mining companies to harness gold resources in the country after they are voted into power in the upcoming elections.
Speaking in a live interaction, the flagbearer noted that, Ghana has the capacity to solely run the affairs of gold production in the country because there are about 5 to 10 domestic subcontractors in the mining sector, who when employed, have the ability to undertake mining duties that can compete with the performance of foreign companies.
“We did not have the technology and the knowledge of how to do mining then like we do now. These companies execute all the processes involved in gold mining, while the foreign companies only extract gold from the ores. They can run a first-class mine just as the foreigners are doing.”
The former President further explained that, mining done by small scale holders and others amount to about 40 to 50 per cent of the total gold that is exported which is a huge value product, and as such, government must have an interest in it and take control of that sector.
Touching on the issue of implementing the said plan, the Mr. Mahama iterated the establishment of a Gold Board for the mining sector, as included in the party’s 2020 campaign manifesto, which according to him will assist miners to undertake proper mining.
He explained that, there is the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission which are mainly policy and regulatory bodies but there is no body that directly oversees the implementation of regulations in the mining sector.
Mr. Mahama also argued that the Gold Board will be a source of employment to persons with knowledge about mining, citing student graduates from the Tarkwa University of Mines and Technology as an example.
“We are going to reconstruct the whole mining concession area, and make sure that we identify and differentiate between small, medium and large-scale miners.”
He further said Gold Board offices will be stationed in mining districts, which will be responsible for the supervision of mining activities within the district.
He announced that under the NDC, the Bank of Ghana will be tasked to store a percentage of the gold produced in the national reserve.
In the NDC’s manifesto, the Flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama revealed plans of setting up a gold board, The Gold Board (GOLDBOD), for the small-scale mining sector which will have the responsibility of providing mining support services to the sector, ranging from concession viability, health, safety and efficiency in mine operations, equipment financing and mining input, research and standardization, gold recovery optimization as well as post-mining, and land reclamation services.
He also revealed that, the NDC when voted into power, will compel small-scale miners to undertake skills training in land reclamation techniques as a required component of their operations to minimize their adverse environmental impacts.
He further added that, he will promote legally and properly regulated operated medium and small-scale mining to become attractive and well-paid business ventures creating jobs for our youth.
Mr. Mahama then revealed his plan of banning the export of unrefined gold by the small-scale mining companies in the country.
