Gold Production Hits Record HighSource: Musah Yahya Jafaru -...

Gold Production Hits Record High
Source: Musah Yahya Jafaru - Daily Graphic


Ghana?s gold production recorded an unprecedented 3.15 million ounces last year, the highest output in the country for any single year.

The proportion of total merchandise exports accounted for by minerals also rose from under 20 per cent in the 1980s through 35 per cent in 1991 to 45 per cent in 2009.

Addressing the Third West and Central Africa Mining Summit in Accra, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, attributed the positive trends unfolding in the mining industry to the adoption of an attractive legal and fiscal regime in line with international best practices.

The summit which was attended by ministers of state, heads of mining agencies, investors, captains and industry analysts was designed to draw attention to investment potentials in the sub-region and highlight policy goals for sustainable development through the mining industry.

?The policy and legislative review undertaken by the government in the mining sub-sector over the past few decades has resulted in a significant increase in investment inflows and boosted production in the industry?, Alhaji Dauda said.

He reiterated the government?s commitment to the broad policy goals of sustainable development including maximising retained value of mining, diversification of mineral resources base, value addition to mineral products, improving environmental sustainability and community as well as stakeholder participation in the management of the mineral resource.

To enable Ghana consolidate and build up on the gains made so far, Alhaji Dauda said the government had formulated a draft national mining policy targeted primarily at optimising tax revenue generation.

The mining policy is also to ensure the sustainable development of the national economy through the use of mining as a catalyst for wider investment.

In addition to the policy, new projects have been initiated under the Natural Resources and Environmentl Governance (NREG) programme to unearth new mineral deposits, strengthen the capacity of the mining sector agencies and integrate environmental considerations into policy formulation and implementation to maximise the retained value from the mining industry.

The minister urged investors to partner the government to explore and exploit its mineral resources, especially newly-discovered minerals including copper, phosphate, nickel, chromium and uranium.