 Ghana´s
Treasure Trove
One of Ghana’s strong points in her success story is the mining sector. She prides herself as one of the richest sources of gold in addition to other minerals like bauxite, manganese and limestone. The country has recorded a great deal of success in this sector which has taken over from cocoa as the highest foreign exchange earner for the country.
Undoubtedly a veritable treasure trove. Ghana, as a result of privatization and the introduction of prospecting licenses, has added more mining companies to Ashanti Goldfields, the only mining company until 1985. There are 226 private companies, 135 local and 91 foreign to carry out exploration in the country. Twenty four out of that number have been granted mining leases and nine of them have already started operating. The benefits for these private companies are that "liberalization has made it easier for the transfer of profits abroad, dividends and debts to be paid, and more importantly easier for them to be involved in the economy" says Mr. Fred Ohene-Kena , the former Minister of Mines and Energy .
The involvement of the private mining companies has helped in increasing production of the gemstone and its exports. Ghana in 1983 exported 300,000 ounces of gold but at the close of 1998, over two million ounces of gold had been exported.
| The country’s hope of reaping from the tremendous increases in gold production has not been coming because of the continuous slump in gold prices on the world market which fell to their lowest.
Ashanti Goldfields remains Ghana’s biggest company, but it has been joined by competitors from major international mining interests including Boston-based Pioneer Group, Gencor and Goldfields of South Africa, Anglo-American Goldfields and Australia’s Associated Goldfields. The success Ashanti is basking in has made it a model of African privatization program and an example of the benefits of private sector management. The company has opened project sites in 15 African countries and now has about 45 exploration sites.
In spite of its achievements, Ashanti Goldfields, Africa’s third largest producer of gold, is presently caught out by a jump in gold prices which flipped a profitable hedge book into a loss that entitled its creditors to some 270 million dollars of margin calls, forcing it to enter into talks with investors including Lonmin, the London based company, to explore possible avenues of merger to enable it pay of its debts.
|
GHANA
