Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Mr. Samuel A. Jinapor has disclosed that export earnings from gold for the country in 2022 hit a whopping $6.6 billion.
The huge figure, he explained, represented actual export earnings, taxes, local contents supplies and services.
Mr. Jinapor disclosed this yesterday when he took his turn at the Minister’s press briefing being organised by the Ministry of Information.
He lauded the contribution of the mining sector to Ghana’s GDP, employment opportunities and income derived sector, without which life would have been extremely difficult for some people.
The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Damongo in the Savannah region indicated that four new mining companies would soon be added to the existing ones to mine gold and other minerals like lithium, Cobalt, iron ore and gold at various parts of the country.
Some old mines, according to him, are also being resurrected and reactivated like Prestea and Obuasi Gold to contribute to the proceeds of the sector.
According to Mr. Jinapor, local content that used to be 29 % has been increased to 50 % and most of the mining working tools and services are provided by Ghanaians.
He also indicated that most of the mineral ores would soon be processed here in Ghana to enable the country get more value for our minerals.
However, Mr. Jinapor bemoaned that the world has $13.5 billion chocolate market but Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire who produce 80 of the raw beans get a paltry $6.5 billion.
“This is as a result of exporting it in raw state. That’s why the president has set up the Gold refinery with Royal Gold to refine the gold for better bargain.
“In the same vain the president has set up the composite Aluminium Integrated Grid to process all Bauxite, manganese, iron here to attract better price”, the minister stated.
Galamsey fight
The Lands and Natural Resource Minister assured the nation that the war against illegal mining popularly referred to as Galamsey is on course even though the fight cannot be won overnight.
He noted that like elsewhere in the world, illegal mining war is not very easy because there is the element of cash being the overriding factor.
On the turbidity of the water bodies, Mr. Jinapor noted a significant improvement but added that some intensive work needed to be done to ensure total cleanliness of the water resources.
He affirmed the ban in the mining in the forests reserves and river bodies describing those areas and ‘RED ZONES’.
According to him, people found mining in these areas were apprehended and handed over to the Police for legal action.
Furthermore, the registration of mining equipment and fixing of tracking devices on excavators are still on-going.
