Authorities plans to shorten mining licence durations and mandate direct revenue-sharing with native communities in its most sweeping mining legislation reforms in practically 20 years, particulars of which had been introduced by the Lands Minister on Wednesday.
The deliberate overhaul displays a broader pattern throughout West Africa, the place governments are rewriting mining codes to seize extra worth from rising commodity costs.
Lands and Pure Sources Minister Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah mentioned the modifications, which embody scrapping computerized renewal of some licences, will apply solely to future contracts, a departure from the stance in Mali and Burkina Faso, the place military-led governments have utilized reforms retroactively.
“In Ghana, we do not do retrospective legal guidelines,” Buah mentioned at a presentation within the capital, Accra. “Present agreements are sanctified and will likely be revered.”
He added that the overhaul of the Minerals and Mining Act and mining coverage was 85% full following in depth stakeholder consultations.
DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENT
Ghana, Africa’s prime gold producer, expects output to rise to 5.1 million ounces this yr. Main miners within the nation embody Newmont, Gold Fields, AngloGold Ashanti, Zijin, Asante Gold, and Perseus.
It additionally exports bauxite and manganese with plans to start out lithium manufacturing.
Beneath the proposed legislation modifications, prospecting licences would now not be held indefinitely, and the utmost time period for mining leases could be decreased from 30 years to a shorter interval agreed by the federal government and companies. Corporations failing to fulfill environmental, social or manufacturing obligations would lose the correct to computerized licence renewal.
In a significant shift, the federal government plans to abolish improvement agreements, by which corporations ship cash to the central authorities.
As a substitute, corporations will likely be required to signal agreements committing a hard and fast share of gross mineral gross sales income to fund native improvement tasks as the federal government seeks to handle long-standing grievances from communities that they’ve seen little profit from mining operations.
The reforms additionally suggest a three-tier mineral rights regime, introducing a brand new medium-scale licence class to bridge the hole between massive multinational operators and small-scale artisanal miners.
One other key change into account is the discount or abolition of stability agreements, which presently supply as much as 15 years of tax and regulatory safety to massive buyers.
Future agreements could be restricted to capital restoration intervals for main investments.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Feedback, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform don’t essentially characterize the views or coverage of Multimedia Group Restricted.
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