Accra, Ghana – May 26, 2024 – Ken Ashigbey, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, asserted on Tuesday that Ghana cannot fully exploit its extensive mineral resources solely through domestic capacity, emphasizing the indispensable role of foreign investment in realizing the sector’s potential. He made these remarks during a policy dialogue in Accra, where the future of Ghana’s extractive industries was debated.
Context: A Legacy of Resources and Emerging Demands
Ghana boasts a long history as a gold-producing nation, with over a century of mining operations. Beyond gold, the country possesses substantial deposits of bauxite and manganese. Its extractive sector expanded significantly about 15 years ago with the commencement of commercial crude oil production from the Jubilee Field in December 2010.
More recently, global attention has shifted towards critical minerals like lithium, driven by the increasing demand for resources essential for the ongoing energy transition and battery technology development. Ghana is strategically positioning itself to capitalize on these emerging markets.
The Scale of Opportunity and Local Limitations
Mr. Ashigbey highlighted the immense scale of Ghana’s untapped mineral wealth, particularly describing underground gold reserves as potentially reaching “trillions of ounces.” He argued that the sheer magnitude of these deposits exceeds the current capabilities of local actors to develop them effectively.
“The thing we should bear in mind is that, beyond the things we are mining, there are six gold belts, the six trillions of ounces of gold that are sitting there and we as Ghanaians alone will not be able to do it; we still need to be able to attract some investors to come and do it,” Ashigbey stated.
Debate on Nationalisation vs. Hybrid Models
These comments emerged during a high-level policy dialogue titled
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