By Adu Koranteng
Stakeholders in the mining industry have commended the Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Martin Ayisi, for ensuring efficient and effective implementation of the Minerals and Mining Laws and regulations to the benefit of the state.
A statement issues by the Extractive Governance Reporting Centre (EGRC) a policy think tank in the extractives and energy industries explained that Martin Ayisi has supervised a minerals commission that has and continue to the industry regulation to fight against illegal mining in the country whilst saving and protecting the environment
The Minerals commissions CEO, according to EGRC, has distinguished himself as creditably as in terms of his human relations, media engagement, his knowledge in the sector which is complex in nature, and the fight against illegal mining without fear or Favour.
Under his management, The Minerals Commission commenced the implementation the fifth edition of the new procurement list which seeks to increase items on the procurement list for the provision of goods and services from 41 to 50.
The initiative replaces the fourth edition of the procurement list which was published by the Commission in early 2022.
It is obvious that The Minerals and Mining (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations, 2020(L.I. 2431) came into force on 22 December 2020 with the purpose of promoting job creation using local expertise, goods and services in the mining industry and their retention in the country. The law is also to achieve the minimum in-country spend for goods and services and create mining and mineral related industries that will sustain economic development.
Pursuant to Regulation 7 of L.I. 2431, the Commission is required to publish a local procurement list which stipulates the goods and services with Ghanaian content which are to be procured in the country. Regulation 7(3) of L.I. 2431 further states that the Commission shall review the procurement list annually.
The increase in the items on the list comes at the time when receipts from mineral revenues and investments hovers around US$ 10 Billion.
There are four new projects with investment of about US$ 1.7 billion. The new projects are the US$ 850 million Ahafo North gold mine project by Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, US$ 500 million gold project currently under construction by Cardinal Namdini Mining limited in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, the US$ 200 million gold mine to be constructed in the Upper West Region and the US$ 125 million lithium project at Ewoyaa in the Central Region.
Under his stewardship some mines are undertaking expansion and redevelopment. For Instance the Ahafo South mine of Newmont has been expanded to include the Subika underground and Golden Star Wassa is spending about a billion dollars to expand the Wassa underground mine. The mines being redevelop are the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi mine where a billion dollars has been expended and the Bibiani mine of Mensin Gold Ghana Limited which started production in the last quarter of 2022.
