Ghana’s overall mineral proceeds has increased
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 June 2003 - The Ghana Stock Exchange on Monday maintained a steady gain recording 5.49 points on the back of significant price appreciations in Home Finance Company (HFC) and the British-American Tobacco (BAT) company.
The All-Share Index opened the week up at 1,870.44 points from last Friday's close of 1,864.95 points. Shares traded recorded a leap from 57,000 shares to 420,400.
Market capitalization closed the day higher at ø8,056.48bn as against ø8,043.13bn registered on Friday while the change for the year the to date is fixed at 34.05 per cent.
On the broader market, there were two positive price changes. HFC gained ø150 to close trading at ø1,900 while BAT gained ø20 at ø1,820.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 450
AGC 28,500
ALW 4,000
BAT 1,820 +20
CFAO 72
CPC 630
EIC 5,005
FML 2,301
GBL 550
GCB 5,400
GGL 2,300
HFC 1,900 +150
MGL 258
MLC 400
MOGL 19,950
PAF 750
PBC 380
PZ 2,040
SCB 36,051
SPPC 390
SSB 7,200
SWL 285
TBL 5,300
UNIL 6,754
CMLT 460
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 June 2003 - Ghana's overall mineral proceeds increased from $658.8m in 2001 to $679.8m last year, recording a three per cent growth.
The recovery in the price of gold accounted for the improvement in revenue, Kweku Andoh Awotwi, Acting President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, said in a report he submitted at the 75th Annual General Meeting of the Chamber in Accra on Friday.
Awotwi, however, painted a gloomy picture of the mining sector when he gave the breakdown of the performance of the minerals. Gold production suffered a 14 per cent decline between 1999 and 2002 although the gold output of countries in the rest of Africa with the exception of South Africa increased by 14 per cent in 2001.
He warned that Mali was poised to take over from Ghana as the second largest producer of gold in Africa if Ghana did not take measures to improve its competitiveness.
Diamond production fell by nine per cent between 2001 and 2002 and suffered a 14 per cent decline in revenue due to lower unit prices. Bauxite exports also fell by 9.5 per cent with a revenue decline of 14 per cent as a result of lower unit prices for the mineral in 2002 compared to 2001.
Manganese export stabilised at $1.2m while the output fell by 11 per cent with a marginal increase in revenue of 0.2 per cent due to the improved unit prices from $20.8 per ton in 2001 to $23.4 per ton in 2002.
Awotwi said the output of the bulk minerals, manganese and bauxite, suffered primarily because of the poor state of rail network that links the mines in Awaso and Nsuta to the port in Takoradi and the low capacity of vessels that load the mineral.
Ashanti Goldfield Company continues to be the industry leader, accounting for 46 per cent of the country's gold production representing a marginal increase of one per cent over the 2001 figure of 45 per cent.
Awotwi spoke against the charging of Value Added Tax on mineral exploration activity and explained that it was a deterrent to attracting exploration investment into the country since it is becoming a "high risk investment."
He said delay in passing the Mining Bill into law was discouraging investments in the sector while investment capital continues to flow to other mining countries.
He appealed to the government to reconsider any attempt to increase the royalty paid by the mining companies since such royalties add extra fixed costs to project cost even before their commencement
Awotwi said mining was an energy intensive economic activity hence the need for government to address the high tariffs mining companies pay coupled with the competitive rates for energy requirements.
He highlighted efforts being made by miners to check environmental degradation mentioning guidelines to ensure proper handling of hazardous goods meant for the industry and donation of 20,000 seedlings towards the President's Special Initiative on Forestry.
"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the industry achieved over 75 per cent compliance with the mining environment regulations and standards in 2002.
"With the introduction of the reclamation bonds, $1.5m and ø240m in cash in addition to $4.8m in bank guarantees and insurance have been posted for the reclamation bonds."
Joyce Wereko-Brobby, Chief Executive of the Chamber, stressed that mining companies attached importance to the promotion of good environmental practices to win public confidence.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com