Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mines, George Mireku Duker, has revealed that government has established the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) just to add value to the country’s manganese and other resources.
According to him, the arrival of a delegation from Turkish investment firm, Yıldırım Holdings is timely as they have come at a time when Ghana is charting a new path in the harnessing and exploitation of its natural resources.
The Nine-Member delegation led by the President and CEO, Robert Yuksel Yildirim paid a courtesy call on the Deputy Minister to brief him about their business interest in Ghana and key aspects of the Ghanaian economy where they could explore investment opportunities.
According to Mr Mireku Duker, the government has set out to move Ghana from exporting raw materials to adding value to its resources and that it is an area that Yildirim Holdings could explore and establish itself as a leader in value addition to minerals in Ghana’s mining Industry.
He noted that the government has established and resourced the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to create the enabling environment for the aluminium industry to thrive through the refining and smelting of bauxite into Alumnina.
Value-addition to Ghana’s mineral resources
Commenting on the Sector Minister’s declaration that Ghana’s recently discovered lithium resource will not be exported in its raw state, Mr Mireku Duker revealed that to achieve this, Government has created numerous opportunities for investors and companies that Yildirim holdings can take advantage of to grow an industry that has been tipped by experts to become a key cog in Ghana’s economy.
“I see you are a utility and experienced company with over six decades of experience in various fields. There is a large manganese resource in my constituency and its something we can look at. The vision of the President is adding value to the resources. We don’t want to export our raw manganese and resources so we’ve established GIADEC just to add value to the manganese.”
George Mireku Duker
Furthermore, he noted that government is also developing the “iron ore industry by establishing the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC) to integrate the value chain” and ensure it adds value.
On his part, the President and CEO of Yildirim Group, Robert Yuksel Yildirim, laid emphasis on the experience and credibility of his company, assuring Hon. Duker the company is interested in investing in various sectors of Ghana’s economy.
He stated that Ghana’s democracy which has stood the test of time as well as the strong policies and laws creates the conducive environment for business and that his outfit could pump investment into areas such as mining, shipping, fertilizer production among others.
In his concluding statement, Hon. Duker stressed on the commitment of the Ministry and its readiness to provide the needed support for the company to find its feet in Ghana and contribute to the job-creation agenda of the government.
Earlier this year, President Akufo-Addo stated that the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), has strategically been established by government to add value to the country’s raw bauxite resources in order to phase out the raw export of the natural resource in the short to medium term.
According to President Akufo-Addo, Ghana, over the years, has not always done well in negotiations with the countries that exploit her natural resources. He noted that among other things such as “corruption, incompetence and political instability, the nation has mostly been short-sighted in these negotiations, thus, end up settling for less”.
To this end, President Akufo-Addo noted that the real value of natural resources lies in their value addition and that the value of the global aluminium industry, from bauxite mining through alumina smelting and alumina production, is estimated to be in excess of one hundred and eighty billion dollars annually.
