The Ghana Chamber of Mines is advocating stronger local manufacturing capacity and partnerships between domestic businesses and international suppliers to ensure that more of the value generated by the mining industry remains in the country.
The Chamber says Ghana must move beyond relying on local companies as importers and distributors of mining supplies to building their capacity to manufacture equipment, inputs and other products required by mining operations.
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ing. Dr. Ken Ashigbe, said procurement accounted for more than 60 per cent of the value generated in the mining industry, making it a critical area for Ghana to improve its economic returns from mineral extraction.
He said the country stood to gain more if a greater proportion of mining companies' procurement expenditure was channelled into locally manufactured goods and services rather than imported products.
Majority, over 60 per cent of that goes into procurement. And so how do we ensure that we are not exporting the value out, but we are retaining that particular value?” he said.
Dr. Ashigbe made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of a civil society dialogue on Ghana's mining resources organised by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in partnership with the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra.
The dialogue, held under the theme, “Ghana's Mining Fiscal and Revenue Governance Architecture: Is Ghana Maximising Value from its Mineral Wealth?”, brought together industry players and civil society organisations to examine how Ghana could derive greater economic benefits from its mineral resources.
Dr. Ashigbe said the Chamber was considering ways to bring international suppliers and Ghanaian companies together to establish joint ventures that would facilitate technology transfer, local production and skills development.
Under the proposed arrangement, foreign suppliers could provide the technology and technical expertise while local companies and communities contribute resources and business capacity to support manufacturing activities in Ghana.
He said such partnerships would allow Ghanaian businesses to participate in higher-value activities instead of limiting their involvement to importing products and reselling them to mining companies.
He explained that the Chamber was incorporating discussions on value retention into its strategy for the coming years, with particular attention to procurement practices and opportunities for local businesses.
Fiscal policy and investment
On the fiscal framework governing the mining industry, Dr. Ashigbe said Ghana needed to maintain a balance between maximising government revenue and creating an attractive investment environment.
He noted that international benchmarks, including the International Monetary Fund's average effective tax rate assessments, placed Ghana towards the upper end of the relevant threshold for government revenue from mining.
He said the issue was therefore not simply about increasing taxes but also ensuring consistency and predictability in the country's fiscal policies to encourage sustained investment.
The challenge even around the fiscal is not just the high levels, but the issues around consistency and predictability,” he said.
He maintained that discussions on the mining sector's contribution to national development should consider the entire value chain, including procurement, local employment, manufacturing and the utilisation of revenues received by government.
Dr. Ashigbe disclosed that members of the Chamber's large-scale mining sector contributed more than GH¢24 billion to government in taxes in 2025.
He said it was important for the country to ensure that such revenues were managed effectively and invested to provide lasting benefits.
Call for long-term mineral revenue planning
Dr. Ashigbe also called for the introduction of a Minerals Revenue Management Act to provide a framework for managing revenues from the exploitation of the country's mineral resources.
He said the proposed legislation could draw lessons from the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, particularly in establishing mechanisms to save revenues during periods of high commodity prices.
He proposed the establishment of stabilisation and heritage funds to protect government finances against fluctuations in international mineral prices while preserving part of the country's mineral wealth for future generations.
He said the finite nature of mineral resources made it necessary for Ghana to invest the proceeds from extraction in sustainable economic activities.
Every ounce of gold you take out of the ground, every ton of manganese you take out of the ground, took some millions and millions of years to produce. And so that is lost forever for the next millions of years,” he emphasized.
He argued that the proposed legislation could also provide an opportunity to establish a dedicated fund to support indigenous mining companies and develop their operational capacities.
According to him, strengthening Ghanaian-owned mining businesses would enable them to expand their operations, attract investment and compete more effectively in the industry.
He cited companies such as Adamus Resources, Asante Gold and Engineers and Planners as examples of indigenous businesses whose capacities could be developed alongside emerging medium-scale mining enterprises.
Dr. Ashigbe said combining support for local businesses with foreign direct investment would help build a stronger domestic mining industry and improve the country's ability to retain value from its mineral resources.
He reaffirmed the Chamber's commitment to working with government, regulators and civil society organisations to develop policies that would strengthen the mining industry's contribution to Ghana's long-term economic development.
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