Deputy Minister responsible for Mining, George Mireku Duker, has commended the DML Investment for taking the initiative in seeking collaboration with the Ministry in the area of Ghana’s promising lithium industry.

According to him, the proactiveness and sense of purpose exhibited by the firm with the decision to request funding for investment in the lithium industry is commendable.

Speaking on behalf of the Sector Minister, Samuel Jinapor, Mr Mireku Duker called on the Ghana Geological Survey Authority (GGSA) to make public information on its mandate and activities, especially on geological and Mineral mappings of the various regions of the country, to among others, help obtain investment into the country.

“At times we need to push to see how far we can go to make our institutions vibrant. People don’t know that GGSA has similar information. Will take it up and see how we can collaborate to deepen our search for the lithium industry.”
George Mireku Duker

The deputy lands minister made this remark following a detailed presentation by the DML Investment on a proposal submitted to the Ministry seeking funding to undertake exploratory and discovery exercise.

Geological exploration to empower GGSA

On his part, Professor Johnson Manu of DML Investment, in his presentation disclosed that the geological exploration will empower the GGSA with information about the amount of lithium resources in the regions designated for the exercise.

He revealed that early information and signs indicate the existence of rich amount of pegmatites. However, he explained that work is needed to be undertaken to convert the data into numbers to woo investors.

Also, Mr Nana Yaw Koranteng, CEO of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), expressed the readiness of his outfit to support GGSA undertake the exploration and acquire important data on the amount of lithium available in the country and also chart further discussions with DML Investment.

He noted that the control of Ghana’s resource exploitation and harnessing must be in the hands of Ghanaians and that MIIF recognizes the need to leverage on the information to aid the country during negotiations with investors.

Meanwhile, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, has vowed that the ministry will ensure value addition to Ghana’s mineral resources, with particularly reference to the green minerals, before exports. Due to this, he has assured the international business community that under no circumstances will Ghana export its lithium and other green minerals in their raw state.

Speaking at a panel discussion on building value from the energy transition, the lands minister revealed that the surest way to benefit from these green minerals, in view of the green energy transition, is to ensure value addition.

He noted that one of the reasons why Africa has not benefited from its several years of mining is the over concentration on the export of raw minerals. To be able to benefit from the green minerals, he explained that the continent must make a conscious effort to move away from the export of raw materials to value addition.

Ghana is endowed with several green minerals including; Lithium, Graphite, Chrome, Zinc, Copper, Cobalt and Nickel. Lithium, in particular, has been found in high grade in the Central Region. According to experts, the global lithium industry at the mining stage is about 11 billion dollars. But the value of the industry at the highest end, which is battery production, is estimated at 7 trillion US Dollars.

However, the processes from mining to battery production are very capital intensive. Currently, China is the only country doing end to end retention of the full value from mining to battery production.

To this, Mr Jinapor stated that even though Ghana may not be able to retain the full value chain from mining to battery production in the country at this stage, government is committed to ensure that as much as possible, a significant proportion of the value chain is retained in Ghana.