Management of the Ghana Chamber of Mines has engaged stakeholders including the media, faculty heads and some students of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale on the mining industry.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sulemanu Koney flanked by other officials of the Chamber, schooled the participants on how the nation’s mining industry operates.
He explained the rationale of the engagement stating that it “is meant to create awareness on the happenings in the mining industry and make known to the general public, including journalists and students, certain new developments that are taking place within the sector.”
Sulemanu Koney implored local entrepreneurs to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that abound in the mining sector.
“Until and unless many Ghanaian businessmen bid for contracts to provide services required by the various mining companies in the country, the latter would continue to import most of its consumables that could be produced locally from outside the country.”
“Mining companies spent huge sums of money to import vehicle and machine spare parts, heavy-duty electrical cables, general lubricants, bolts and nuts and other materials, simply because such things were either not available locally or were available but could not meet the required standard of the mining companies.”
He disclosed the Chamber’s intention to launch a business opportunities’ portal that would indicate all the resources needed by mining companies operating in the country.
He revealed that the mining sector contributed significantly to the local economy in the 2016 fiscal year.
“The sector, in 2016, contributed about 1.6 billion cedis to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), representing 15.8 percent of the GRA’s total direct taxes for the year.”
“Gold Fields and Newmont Ghana, both members of the Chamber, were also adjudged the largest and second largest taxpayers in Ghana in 2016 by the GRA.”
According to Mr. Koney, for the first time since 2011, the provisional balance of payments in 2016 recorded a surplus.
This, he said, reflected an improvement in the trade balance driven by a rise in gold export receipts and a fall in oil import prices.
He said that producing members of the Chamber returned US$2.3 billion, representing 71 percent of their mineral revenue through the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the commercial Banks in 2016.
Sulemanu Koney asked the government to ensure efficiency in the management of the mineral revenue.
“Government needs to enact a law for the management of mineral revenue to promote sustainability and efficiency in the expenditure of revenues attributable to mining.”
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana