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The Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) has joined efforts to improve royalty payments and collections due the state from the mining sector in Ghana. EOCO is the newest member of a group of related agencies in the extractive and minerals sub-sector led by the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF). MIIF is the statutory body that receives royalties on behalf of the state, and manages the Government of Ghana’s equity interest in large-scale mining companies. The Fund invests these dividends and royalties on behalf of the people of Ghana.

The Inter-Agency collaboration is born out of a framework to enhance the collection of royalties, expand the royalties net and streamline communication on royalties’ payments; especially from non-gold mining sectors such as salt-mining, sand-winning, limestone and granite quarrying.

Strategic collaboration (Inter-Agency Framework)

The collaboration initiated by MIIF in December 2021 has improved efficiency in the collection of non-gold royalties through collaborative efforts of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), which is responsible for the collection of royalties on behalf of MIIF; the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) which assesses standards and accurate production measurements of minerals; and the Minerals Commission (MINCOM), regulator of the mining sector. The Inter-Agency committee comprises officials from the Minerals Commission, regulator of the sector; Ghana Standards Authority (GSA); Environmental Protection Authority (EPA); and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, welcomed the inclusion of EOCO to the Inter-Agency Collaboration. “The inclusion of EOCO adds a new dimension to this all-important initiative, and we will leverage on their expertise and infrastructure to help identify and collect royalties from these mineral types.”

Inter-Agency Framework Results so far

“Payment of royalties from quarries since we started this Inter-Agency Collaboration in December 2021 have gone up by over 100%. For the first time in Ghana’s history, sand-winners who had never paid royalties to the state are now making good their commitments and paying royalties. The Salt and Limestone sectors are performing above 200% on pre-November 2021 figures. We could end the year at circa GH¢30million – which was lost to the state previously,” said Mr. Koranteng.

The collaboration is also yielding much quicker reconciliation of data, collection of data and information-sharing. “We are dilating on the same information and adopting a singular multi-faceted strategy, because we are all in one room thinking about solutions and efficiency. This helps us to leverage our experiences for innovation.

“For example, through this inter-agency, the business development unit of MIIF has built a geo-mapping system covering most of the non-gold minerals. We are working together, with the relevant laws and mandates leaving no room for exploitation by those who want to take advantage of the system by deliberately living in the crevasses. This is the true benefit of working together,” emphasised Mr. Koranteng.

EOCO’s Role

The Economic and Organised Crime Office established by the Economic and Organised Crime Office Act, 2010 (Act 804) is a specialised agency to monitor and investigate economic crimes, and on the Attorney-General’s authority prosecute those offences to recover the proceeds of crime and provide for related matters. It has as part of its mission ‘detecting, investigating, preventing and prosecuting all serious economic and organised crimes in Ghana’.

“The non-payment of royalties offends the law,” said Mr. Koranteng. “There are instances when some practices of companies in the mining sector indicate clear attempts to evade their payment obligations through very complex schemes. What EOCO further brings to the Inter- agency is law enforcement muscle, and also the ability to detect and investigate these practices,” Koranteng further opined.

The Executive Director of EOCO, C.O.P Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, stated that: “EOCO has a mandate to investigate crimes and prevent the occurrence of same. To be able to do this, we need to better understand the mining sector in order to enable a full deployment of our resources, collect and package evidence professionally, and to protect data collected. This is what we bring to the Inter-Agency Framework”. We are excited to be part of an all-government collaboration,” C.O.P Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah said.

MIIF positions to invest in Ghana’s potential multi-billion dollar salt industry. 

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) in line with its mineral investment diversification strategy is positioning to invest in the industrial salt sector. According to the Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Mr Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, salt is set to become one of Ghana’s major foreign exchange earners by 2026 and a top industrial earner by 2030 if the resuscitation plan of the Ada Songhor Salt project follows through as planned. This follows the plan of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) to strategically focus on the sector. “The plan to boost salt production and the development of its allied value chain should yield about $2billion to the Ghanaian economy beginning 2027, with the potential to create more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the next five years from just the Songhor Salt pans alone” Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng said after a one day working visit to the Ada.

Classification of Salt as ‘High Priority Mineral’ by MIIF

The Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng is optimistic that the planned focus on the mineral will generate new economy vibrancy for the areas known for salt production such as Ada, Sege, Keta, Ningo and Winneba. Mr Koranteng intimated that, MIIF is developing a classification strategy for high priority minerals such as lithium, limestone, granite, diamond and salt. “Classifying Salt as a high priority mineral means we will invest in the mineral value chain development, we will de-risk it’s funding methods and help with the acquisition of relevant technology that revitalises the industry”. Mr Koranteng said, Ghana and Senegal are the only countries in West Africa with the potential for large-scale industrial production of salt. He decried the fact that Nigeria with a demand in excess of 1.5 million metric tons (MT) per annum, imports 80% of its industrial salt needs from Brazil while the Songhor salt pans alone has the capacity to produce over one million tons at just 60% capacity.

The Global Salt Market

Salt has at least 14,000 uses with the chemical industry most reliant on the mineral to produce various chemicals. It is frequently used as a raw material in the production of chlorine, caustic soda, and soda ash. Aside from these, industrial salt is used to make sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate, hydrochloric acid, sodium bicarbonate, liquid sodium, metallic sodium, chlorine, and sodium nitrate. Salt is also used for detergents, de-icing, textiles, fertilizers and is used heavily in oil and gas processing.  

The worldwide market for salt was valued at circa $28.5 Billion in 2020 with 270 million metric tons (MT) of salt produced that year. The market is projected to grow to $36 Billion in 2026 with China controlling 22.48% of the world’s production. Africa’s leading salt producing countries are Egypt, Tunisia, Namibia, Morocco and South Africa. Egypt produced 1.75 million MT of salt while Tunisia produced 1.6 million MT of salt. The total amount of salt produced in Ghana has remained relatively flat since 2013 at about 250,000 MT.

The Ada Songhor Salt Resuscitation Project

The Ada Songhor Pans, a 41,000-acre salt project is currently being resuscitated by Electrochem, a fully owned Ghanaian company. The Ada Songhor Project in terms of acreage is the largest in Africa. It has been lying dormant as an industrial salt producing area since 1982 but has the potential to produce more than 1.75 million MT and to be the largest salt producing area in Africa.  The resuscitation project by Electrochem which started in late 2016 with initial production starting in early 2021 has led to the full restoration of the Songhor lagoon which had dried out for eight years.

The resuscitation project which includes construction of evaporating and crystallisation ponds, extensive civil works, restoration of the lagoon, desilting and development of new pans has seen an initial investment of $58 Million dollars through a combination of debt and equity from a local bank and Electrochem. The current state has created employment for 2,800 people directly and indirectly, Electrochem has developed a community salt mining scheme for the local community with Electrochem itself as the offtaker. Although current production is just about 12% capacity now, the redevelopment has garnered interest from the sub-region region and led to the first ever sea export of salt from Ghana through the Tema ports.

The MIIF Initiative with Ada Songhor Salt

MIIF intends to partner and support the full restoration of the Ada Salt project to its full capacity with an equity investment. “The place was completely dead. The lagoon had dried up, the ponds were heavily silted and the project previously looked like a high risk or a death knell for any investor to engage especially with factions among the chiefs and people of the various communities. It was considered in financial circles as a poisoned chalice for anybody to take on”, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng said of the state of the project before the new investors arrived.

Electrochem seem to have succeeded in reducing the daunting task into manageable pieces. Its chairman, Daniel McKorley told the MIIF team; “We realised the problem of factionalism the moment we conceived the project. We worked on uniting the community and seeking their support and that of the chiefs for more than two years before moving to site. We needed to get it right with the community. Among other things, we created a beneficial financial scheme especially for the women and assured the leaders that there would be several hundreds of jobs for the youth in the area over the sixteen-year lease. It was when we started the process of trying to prepare the ponds for production through desilting that we realised we had taken on an unbelievably huge project.” “We are creating a wealthy ecosystem that feeds the community first and then business. Remember, Salt production is primarily from the sea and as long as the sea never dries, the community and the business will both progress”, Daniel McKorley said.

 “For us at MIIF, the fact that this project is wholly owned by Ghanaians and could integrate several parts of our development agenda such as the 1D1F where salt is used in virtually every industry excites us greatly. The focus for MIIF is to create value and derive even greater value to the community and to Ghana as a whole. We do this by building local participation into our mining model at the ownership level as well as developing the value chain to the benefit of Ghanaians. The Africa Continental Free Trade Area provides immense possibilities not only to Songhor but to a well-developed salt mining sector in Ghana.  The Songhor salt project and the sponsors, Electrochem, tick the boxes for long term viability, environmental, social and governance, export potential, high salt density, infrastructure plans and the fact that all the engineers on site are Ghanaians. The corporate management suite is all Ghanaian and the project is supported by one of the best salt design and project managers in the world, Serra of Spain which is also responsible for the technical construction. This nexus of global experience and Ghanaian knowledge is what will make this project thrive and we believe with MIIF’s proposed investment, Ghana should be Africa’s largest salt producer by 2027” said Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng.

Mr Koranteng further emphasised that, in line with ongoing discussions with the Ghana Stock Exchange, there is a plan of development to list most of MIIF’s investments on the Stock Exchange. This has been included in the proposed Electrochem investment plan. This would allow a greater number of Ghanaians to own a part of the company”.  Mr Koranteng concluded.

The Electrochem concession spreads through several communities including Sege, Ada Foah and Big Ada.

The Mineral Income Investment fund is now on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Cannon House (EY Building) in Cantonments city Ragoon Lane Accra.

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) may well become the most important lever in Ghana’s development, Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, the Fund’s Chief Executive, has said.

Addressing participants at the 14th West Africa Power Exhibition and Conference on the topic ‘MIIF as a tool for National Development, Mr. Koranteng said the time has come for Ghana and Ghanaians to think differently about wealth creation, especially for future generations.

Mr. Koranteng also highlighted some aspects of the proposed Agyapa listing on a high-powered panel that featured internationally acclaimed Natural Resources Governance Expert, Dr. Steve Manteaw; Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber Of Mines, Suleman Koney; Daniel McConvey, founder and Managing Member of Rossport Investments LLC.; and the acting Head of Goldfields West Africa, Joshua Mortorti who chaired the panel.

What is the MIIF?

The MIIF was established by an act of Parliament, Act 978 in 2018. According to Mr. Koranteng, the president’s vision leading to its creation was for the MIIF to utilise the two main streams of income from the mining sector – dividends and royalties – and use these to support development of the mining sector and mining communities. “Dividends and royalties hitherto were paid into the consolidated account without recourse to any accountability metrics, or how they were positively impacting the mining sector,” Mr. Koranteng noted.

The MIIF Act mandates MIIF to manage the equity interest of government in all mining companies. This is the usual 10% carried interest, which is a prescription of law except for a few; and to hold and manage all royalties paid by all mining companies for all mineral types except bauxite.

Mr. Koranteng stated: “The MIIF’s objective is to invest the income (royalties and dividends) in various asset classes which will derive sustainable long-term value for the people of Ghana, with emphasis on the mining sector”. In explaining the breakdown and uses of royalties collected, Mr. Koranteng said: “20% of royalties collected across all mineral types goes to the Minerals Development Fund (MDF), which is responsible for deploying it directly to traditional authorities and local government for the provision of developmental amenities; 2% goes into the operations of MIIF; 2.4% to GRA as a collecting agent; and 75.6% goes into investment activities.

“Ghana will not gain from its natural resources until Ghanaians participate fully in value chains of the various minerals mined. Creating the MIIF is meant to provide such a conduit,” said Mr. Koranteng – who bemoaned the lack of development in mining areas, lack of Ghanaian ownership in the mining majors, and the indigenous small scale mining sector’s informal nature. He said: “Ghana has been mining for a long time. We have discovered at least seventeen minerals, the latest one being lithium. The question is, where is the Ghanaian participation in all these mining activities?”

How the MIIF is changing the narrative

Mr. Koranteng elaborated that since creation of the MIIF, it has pursued a policy of value creation with emphasis on Ghanaian interests. This is being done through a multi-layered approach. In this vein, the Fund is investing equity in prospective mines in Ghana and has recently invested US$20million for a 4.65% equity stake in the Toronto and Frankfurt-listed Asante Gold – which owns the well-resourced Bibiani gold mine and is on the verge of acquiring Kinross assets in Ghana.

This will eventually make Asante one of Africa’s largest gold mines. Mr. Koranteng revealed that the Fund is currently reviewing two major gold prospects in Ghana and designing a product programme with banks to support the quarry sector; and is currently in talks to invest in Ghana’s recently discovered lithium.

“Lithium is of genuine interest to us at MIIF. The global market for lithium, for instance, is around US$6.8billion; however, the Electric Vehicle (EV) market thatuses Lithium as its main resource is worth about US$100billion. Value addition is where the gains are. We are seriously considering a stake in Atlantic Lithium, which has discovered large deposits of the mineral in the Central Region. The by-product of lithium is feldspar, which is used for ceramics, fibre-glass and other high value products that could create another line of economic interest for Ghana,” Mr. Koranteng emphasised.

Aside from large-scale gold-mining firms, MIIF will soon launch its Small Scale Incubation Project (SSMIP) – a targetted intervention in the small-scale mining sector with a proposed US$14million equity incubation: to be piloted with the provision of mini gold processing equipment to licenced small scale miners and a US$500million collaborative trade investment plan that will cover the next ten to fourteen years. The incubation programme’s objective is to help formalise the small-scale mining sector, which is responsible for 30% of Ghana’s gold output; and to eradicate the use of mercury from the small scale sector while improving environmentally sustainability mining, traceability and transparency for Ghana’s gold on the international market.

Similarly, “MIIF is considering investments in salt, which we consider to be the infinite white gold,” said Mr. Koranteng. “We have expressed interest in helping to develop the Ada Songhor salt pans which have the capacity to produce Industrial Salt for the regional market with a demand in excess of 900,000mt of salt per annum; and other products such as caustic soda for our own industrial needs. A full-capacity Ada Songhor Salt Facility will make it the largest in Africa,” Mr. Koranteng said.

“Currently, gold and manganese contribute the most to our minerals royalties; but the MIIF, as part of its strategy to expand the royalties net, is seeking to grow royalties from Granite and Limestone; and for the first time in Ghana’s history, the country has started receiving royalties from sand-winning,” Mr. Koranteng added.

The question of Agyapa Royalties

“The listing of Agyapa Royalties Company is an opportunity for Ghana to garner more value from the global capital markets to support the gold mining sector in Ghana, develop the mining communities, and have more Ghanaians participate in the gold sector,” said Mr. Koranteng.

Mr. Koranteng, responding to questions on Agyapa, clarified that: “Agyapa is an existing gold royalties company belonging 100% to the government of Ghana through the MIIF. The strategic objective is to use the company as a tool to invest in gold companies in Ghana and gold royalties globally, including other gold royalties companies worldwide”. Mr. Koranteng added that: “Listing the company on the stock exchange is not a collateralisation of Ghana’s gold assets, and neither is it a sale of Ghana’s mineral assets”.

He explained further that: “Agyapa’s main source of income is 75.6% of royalties from 12 specific mining leases which hitherto were coming straight to the MIIF. Listing the company means anyone can buy shares in the company, with MIIF maintaining at least 51% majority. The initial raise with a target of US$450million to US$700million will have a significant portion going into the development of infrastructure, mainly in Ghana’s mining communities”.

Mr. Koranteng conceded that the initial communication on the listing of Agyapa to the public may not have been the best when it was introduced in 2020, but any research on royalty companies vis a vis listed mining companies shows that the royalty companies which are insulated from the operational pressures and costs seen with mining companies have performed much better.

Reacting to the presentation, Dr. Steve Manteaw – Head of the Civil Society Organisations in the Extractive Sector – applauded the vision of MIIF. “Investing the country’s royalties is the way to go. Over the years, it was just being piped into the consolidated fund and being used as we pleased. We are all for investing royalties, and I have really been educated on what the intentions of MIIF are. On Agyapa as a Special Purpose Vehicle, we just want more transparency about the structure and valuation of the country’s royalty streams. We all want royalties invested and not consumed, so you have our support. We just need more rigour so we don’t sell ourselves for cheap, and we need more belief in the business model,” said Dr. Steve Manteaw.

Mr. Koranteng responded in agreement and assured participants that MIIF will engage all stakeholders, including the CSOs, on the Agypapa listing when the transaction’s review as tasked by the president is completed.

The 14th West Africa Mining and Power Conference focused on new technologies in the mining and power space of the region, as well as thought-leadership among industry chieftains and investors.

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) plans to invest in Lithium and Salt as part of its investment plans for 2022, Chief Executive Officer Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng has told investors and delegates on the side-lines of the Mining Indaba recently held in Cape Town, South Africa.
MIIF told the biggest mining investment event in Africa that Ghana has proven commercial deposits in lithium, which is the basic resource needed to power the burgeoning electrical vehicles (EV) market.
“The data is exceptional, with additional opportunities from the value chain and for by products such as feldspar – the main resource in ceramics and fibre-glass,” Koranteng said.
According to Mr. Koranteng, the global market for unprocessed lithium is around US$6.83billion with analysts projecting steady growth to circa US$10billion by 2028, and the global lithium battery market is projected to hit US$100billion by 2025 due to the rapid expansion in the EV market.
“We clearly see lithium as a growth pole after analysing all the data, and have started deliberations with Atlantic Lithium which holds concessions with recoverable grade of 560 km2 miles in Ghana,” Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng told the investors gathered in Cape Town.
Mr. Koranteng stressed: “A direct equity investment provides a good opportunity for MIIF to come in at an early stage, considering Atlantic’s planned listing in August 2022. We are looking at an IRR of 125% in four years and a projected revenue of more than US$1.5billion over eight years,” the MIIF CEO said.

Investment in Salt
Mr. Koranteng, who is seeking to build Africa’s biggest sovereign minerals fund, told the investor community at the South Africa Indaba that MIIF is also turning its funds to the development of salt as it seeks to grow its non-gold mineral assets.
“Salt should hit a US$33billion market value in 2026, with the industrial salt market size estimated at circa US$14billion in 2020. The industrial salt sector holds much promise for Ghana, with West African regional demand alone estimated at circa US$600million dollars per annum,” said Koranteng.
Ghana and Senegal are the only countries with the resource potential to produce industrial salt in West Africa to meet such demand, with Ghana having a much more developed base. With proximity to Nigeria, which is the biggest consumer of salt in West Africa, the potential of salt for Ghana is enormous.
“The Ada Songhor salt ponds have a proven track-record of producing high quality evaporated salt, about 41,000 acres of lagoon basin with a significant potential for large-scale salt production and industrial use, as well as for export.
“A full development of the salt ponds would arguably create sub-Saharan Africa’s largest salt ponds complex. The current fields have approximately 13,000 acres of salt ponds and pans, but production averages only about 20% of capacity.
“In our view, there is potential to produce over a million tonnes of salt and other industrial chemicals for both the local and international markets – making Ghana the centre of salt production in the shortest possible time. MIIF intends to invest about US$30million into the sector and has already been approached by potential co-investors,” Koranteng concluded.

The Strategic thrust of MIIF
The strategic intent of MIIF is to derive long-term value for the citizens of Ghana by investing and holding equity positions across the entire value chain of all minerals in the country.
MIIF recently acquired over 4.65% being over 14 million shares in Asante Gold Corporation, which has substantive gold assets in Ghana and is traded on the Canadian and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
The Fund is also seeking to support formalisation of the small-scale gold mining sector through a programme dubbed the Small-Scale Mining Incubation Programme (SSMIP). This programme is being done with support from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and Minerals Commission.
The incubation programme, which costs US$500million, plans to provide tracked mining equipment, a gold-tracing mechanism and a guaranteed offtake at a discount to licenced small-scale gold mining companies in Ghana, on condition that these mines operate under strict corporate governance principles and mine in an environmentally friendly manner as prescribed by law.
Mr. Koranteng stated: “This phase of the incubation programme is an offtake funding arrangement with no direct recourse to MIIF’s finances. It will be the most transformational funding arrangement for artisanal mining in Africa, and could lead to a 50% increase in small-scale mining gold output within three years of implementation”.
According to Koranteng, the small-scale gold mining sector contributes circa 30% of Ghana’s total gold output and employs more than 10% of Ghana’s population (directly and indirectly).

Source: ghanaweb

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has presented assorted items and cash of GH¢20,000.00 to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu towards the celebration of this year’s Eid Fitr.
The items include; cartons of bottled water, bags of rice, packs of soft drinks, bags of sugar, gallons of cooking oil, and cartons of frozen chicken among other consumables.
The MIIF delegation was led by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Edward Nana Koranteng.
In a brief address during the donation, Mr. Koranteng said his outfit was visiting the chief imam for three main reasons—seek his wise counsel, prayers and advice; celebrate the coming to the end of the Ramadan with him and wish him a happy birthday after turning 103 years. He said as the fund plans to actualize the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision of becoming the largest minerals fund in Africa, the management of MIIF found it wise to tap into the leadership qualities of the chief imam.

Source: thebftonline

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) says it is redesigning its strategy for listing its wholly owned subsidiary Agyapa Royalties on the London Stock Exchange and the Ghana Stock Exchange after being named the best financial institution in the mining sector by the French-based publication Forbes Monaco.
Forbes recognised MIIF’s strategic acquisition of over 14 million shares and a roughly 4.65% stake in Asante Gold Corporation, a Canadian- and Frankfurt-listed gold production company which operates in Ghana.
The Forbes Monaco award is given to financial institutions which concentrate specifically on providing financial platforms and funding solutions to the mining sector.
The acquisition – which, together with the Government of Ghana’s carried interest and existing Ghanaian shareholders, would increase Ghana’s shareholding to more than 25% – is a first for the country in a multi-listed international gold mining company.
Asante is currently in negotiation with Kinross Chirano to acquire 90% of the Chirano mine in the Western Region of Ghana, which would further increase Ghana’s stake in the gold mining sector.

Source: Asaase

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has been named the Best Financial Institution in Mining in Ghana by the French-based business publication, Forbes Monaco. The award is given to financial institutions that specifically concentrate on providing financial platforms and funding solutions to the mining sector.
Forbes took cognisance of MIIF’s strategic acquisition of over fourteen million shares and circa 4.65% stake in Asante Gold Corporation, a Canadian and Frankfurt listed gold producing company which operates in Ghana. The acquisition, which together with government’s carried interest and existing Ghanaian shareholders, would increase Ghanaian shareholding to more than 25%, is a first for Ghana in a multi-listed international gold mining company. Asante is currently in negotiation with Kinross Chirano to acquire 90% of the Chirano Mine in Ghana, which would further increase Ghanaian stake.
Forbes Monaco, the Monaco edition of the 93-year-old prestigious Forbes Magazine and Aurum Monaco, a gold refinery based in the Principality of Monaco, both highlighted MIIF’s proposed US$500million Small-Scale Incubation Programme as transformational for Ghana’s gold mining sector. The CEO of MIIF, Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, said: “The proposed programme, which would inject over US$400million into the small-scale mining sector over a period of ten years, is in line with actualising President Nana Akufo Addo’s vision of formalising the small-scale mining sector, encourage environmentally sustainable mining and create Ghanaian gold mining champions”.

Source: thebftonline.com

The Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF) is upbeat about the long-term prospects of its recent equity investments in Toronto and Frankfurt-listed Asante Gold Corporation.
MIIF purchased over fourteen million shares representing 4.65% of the company following a private placement in February 2022.
Following a familiarisation visit to the 100% owned subsidiary of Asante – Mensin Gold Bibiani Limited – by the Chief Executive Officer, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, and his executive team, Mr. Koranteng expressed delight at the pace of development and enhanced prospects of the mine.
Douglas MacQuarrie, Asante’s founder and now Chairman, told the MIIF team: “Our agenda to make Asante’s Mensin Gold Mine an African and Ghanaian success story and a flagship mine remains unchanged. We have assembled some of the best industry experts in the world with many years of experience to deliver this project. With our near-term gold production and the incredible current price upside in the world gold and commodities markets, we believe Asante Gold Corporation’s market capitalisation could grow higher than the US$2billion level in just a few years”.

Source: thebftonline.com

The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) says Ghana loses over GH¢50 million annually in royalties from quarry due to the country’s over-concentration on gold resources.
The Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng who said this at the opening of the 2022 Ghana Mining Week and Gold Expo in Takoradi said quarry should be giving Ghana around GH¢100 million royalties annually, but Ghana only realised just GH¢ 3.8milllion in 2020.
“92% of our royalties are coming from gold, so there is a leaning towards gold because that is where we have our most royalties. So, that is the problem. If you look at the quarry sector, it is in line with our economic and infrastructure development. So as far as you have infrastructure and economic development growing, there should be a corresponding increase in its royalties. We are supposed to have about, GH¢100million in royalties annually. In a worst-case scenario, we should have at least GH¢35 million to GH¢ 56 million but in 2020 we had only GH¢3.6 million which means there is a big problem with the quarries“, he said.
Expanding the scope of mineral resources that can bring more royalties to the state, the CEO of MIIF said if Ghana doesn’t take care, it will even start importing stones anytime soon. 

Source: citinewsroom.com