GRi Business, Economics
& Business 03 - 09 - 2003
Decision on Ashanti to be made known soon - Bannerman
Mining law to be out soon
No licence for mining in forest reserves yet - Min
Agreement reached on cola nut trade
Japan grants $63,000 to two districts
Decision on Ashanti to be made known soon - Bannerman
Accra (Greater Accra) 3 September 2003 - Societe Generale, the multi-national Bank that is advising government on the take-over bid of Ashanti Goldfields Company by either Anglogold or Randgold, would soon make its findings known.
Briefing Journalists in Accra on Tuesday, Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Mines, said Societe Generale was still working behind the scenes.
The Minister, who was speaking at the 'Meet the Press Series' in Accra, said officials of Bank came to Accra two weeks ago to consult with mining companies and operators as well as with officials of the Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ghana Stock Exchange.
"They also interviewed officials of Randgold, Anglogold and Ashanti Goldfields Company." She said Randgold and Ashanti are in consultation to conduct due diligence exercises adding that after this, Randgold would make an appropriate offer.
"The offer made so far is just an indicative one and the right one will be made after due diligence exercise is made." Mrs Bannerman explained that government appointed Societe Generale to undertake a task and would wait patiently for the result.
The Bank was expected to present its report on the final decision on 30
August.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 3 September 2003 - Government on Tuesday said the proposed draft legislation on mining regulations has reached its final stage and would soon be placed before Cabinet. Also being considered is a Geological Survey Amendment Bill to enable the Geological Survey Department to perform its functions more effectively.
Speaking at the Meet-The-Press Series, Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Mines, said the dynamic international mining scene had necessitated the review of Ghana's legal regime to make it more internationally competitive and address stakeholders' interests.
She said government was poised to ensure that mining made the optimal contribution to the sustainable development of the economy and would do everything within its power to ensure that such an objective was not compromised.
Mrs Bannerman announced that government had secured a 40 million-Euro grant from the European Union to enable it to undertake mining environmental impact assessment to measure the effects of large-scale mining operations and future consequences of mine closures.
Institutional reinforcement and capacity building in the sector and geological data development, including airborne geophysical survey of the Voltaian Basin, for mineral and other resources would also be undertaken.
She said currently the sector contributes 39 per cent to the country's foreign exchange earnings with Gold ranking the highest and most dramatic growth in the last decade.
The Minister said the past decade had witnessed the sector contributing
yearly an average of 12 per cent of government revenues collected by the
Internal Revenue Service mainly in the form of corporate tax and royalties. On
employment, she said at present the industry employed over 100,000 people with
the largest being in the small-scale artisanal production.
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No licence for mining in forest reserves yet - Min
Accra (Greater Accra) 3 September 2003 - Government on Tuesday said no licence has been issued to any mining firm to mine from any of the forest reserves. Addressing the Meet-The-Press series in Accra, Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Mines, confirmed that five companies had applied for licence to mine from the reserves.
But, she said, the Ministry was awaiting details from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Currently the Environmental Protection Agency is conducting an environmental impact assessment of the five areas that have been identified for the purpose," she said.
"When all these due diligence activities are carried out, government will be in a better position to grant the appropriate licences."
She said the locations were in the Central, Eastern, Ashanti and Western Regions. The companies that have applied for the mining licences in the forest reserves are Ashanti Goldfields Company, Redbuck Mining Company, Satellite Goldfields Limited, Birim Goldfields and Newmont.
She described the listed companies as "credible" since they had a track record of observing environmental procedures and had the means to ensure that the right thing was done.
Mrs Bannerman explained that some of the areas being considered as forest reserves were so only on paper since they had been degraded extensively by the activities of illegal miners known as "Galamsey Operators".
She said if the said areas, though considered as forest reserves, had been destroyed by the activities of "Galamsey Operators", there may not be ample justification to still hold on to them as such.
Commenting on the broad outline of plans for illegal miners, Mrs Bannerman said government had adopted a policy to support them within a legal framework. "Hence there is a concerted effort to license small-scale miners and encourage them to form cooperatives. This will enable them to be regulated and be given both technical and financial support to operate in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner and make a good living."
Mrs Bannerman said the Minerals Commission had set up a small-scale mining unit to develop the sector. She expressed concern about the large number of illegal small-scale operators, who refused to register, yet whose activities led to serious environmental degradation, mercury pollution and other health hazards.
The Minister said government had sought the assistance of the French Government, through UNIDO, to evaluate the level of exposure of mercury in small-scale gold mining communities.
On the issue of legal land for legal small-scale miners, Mrs Bannerman said the Minerals Commission would soon come out with a programme to carry out exploration or use of secondary information generated by large-scale operators to enable it to demarcate areas that could be reserved for small-scale mining.
She said 65 hectares of forests degraded from gold mining in the Nueng North
Forest Reserve, near Tarkwa in the Western Region, 95 hectares from sand winning
in the green belt area in the Greater Accra Region and 45 hectares degraded
through diamond mining at Bawdua in the Eastern Region had been reclaimed.
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Agreement reached on cola nut trade
Accra (Greater Accra) 3 September 2003 - The Ministry of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives and the National Cola Nuts Dealers Association have agreed on modalities to streamline the export of cola nuts into the Nigerian and other markets.
It said the modalities would bring sanity into the sector and boost the cola nuts export trade. A statement issued by the Public Relations Department of the Ministry said the modalities were agreed in discussions and consultations held at the Ministry with officials of ECOBANK and the Association.
It is envisaged that the implementation of the modalities would make the export transactions more transparent and address problems such as non-payment for exports and the risky and costly business of exporters accompanying their consignments to their final destination.
The modalities are conclusions of formal contract between the dealers and importers in Nigeria and selection of buyers in Nigeria for ECOBANK to deal with.
The others are payment of proceeds to be made into an ECOBANK account in Nigeria or any other importing ECOWAS country and opening of Naira account by exporters with ECOBANK in Ghana.
Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, Deputy Minister, who chaired the meetings, pledged the
Ministry's preparedness to come out with the needed regulations to remove
unnecessary impediments to their business.
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Japan grants $63,000 to two districts
Accra (Greater Accra) 3 September 2003 - The Japanese Government on Tuesday gave two communities in the Central and Eastern Regions a grant totalling $63,166 for development projects.
The grant is under the Japanese Government Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project Scheme. Ajumako Eyan Esiam District in the Central Region received of $44,087 for the construction of a recovery ward at a Community Health Post.
The Upper Manya District in the Eastern Region received $19,079 for the construction of a school block, a store and teacher's bungalow at Asesewa Anglican Primary School.
Mrs Kazuko Asai, Japanese Ambassador in Ghana, who signed the grant contract with the beneficiaries at two separate ceremonies in Accra, urged them to use the grant for the intended purposes to benefit their respective communities.
Rev Michael Timothy Asiedu, a beneficiary from the Central Region, lauded the
Japanese Government for her continuous assistance to deprived communities in the
country.
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