Civil Society Organisations and Think Tanks in Ghana have raised concerns at the mining lease agreement between the Government of Ghana and Atlantic Lithium, an Australian firm, to mine Lithium in commercial quantity at Ewoyaa in the Mfantseman District of the Central Region of Ghana. The agreement which is currently under consideration by a joint parliamentary committee on energy and lands and natural resources pending ratification, was the topic for discussion at a stakeholders’ engagement on Tuesday, September 3, at Parliament House. Think Tanks including Institute for Economic Affairs Ghana (IEA-Ghana) were invited to make presentations before the committee.
Dr. John Kwakye, Director of Research at IEA-Ghana, in his presentation urged the government to move away from the current concession-royalty-tax type of mining leases that are not in the interest of the country. According to him, these leases don’t bring enough benefits to citizens of Ghana.
“We see the Lithium lease as the concession, royalty, tax type of lease. And we do not think that that type of lease is in the interest of the country, I mean, to the extent that it doesn’t give us enough benefits. Now, if that lease agreement is in line with the Minerals and Mining Act, then that act itself must be reviewed. We think that we should have a production sharing, or at least, or at best, a service contract kind of lease. That’s different from the concession type of lease.”, He said
Dr. Kwakye noted that the service contract type of lease is in line with modern leases and in consonance with the United Nations Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States that entitles nations to have full ownership of their natural resource wealth. He continued that, Ghana has a lot more resources than Dubai yet remains impoverished.
“Look at Obuasi compared with Johannesburg. Why this vast difference? And this is because we have not been able to take ownership of our natural resource wealth, which is worth trillions of dollars. We need to resource the Ghana Geological Survey Department such that it can map out our mineral resources because the excuse we normally give is that, you know, we don’t have the capital to explore the resources. We don’t even probably know where exactly the resources are. That’s why we have to rely on foreigners. And because of that, we let them take away almost the entire product.”
The Ewoyaa Lithium Project, upon ratification, is set to be Ghana’s first lithium-producing mine undertaken by Atlantic Lithium under an agreement with Piedmont Lithium. According to the company’s website, Atlantic Lithium was granted a mining lease in October 2023, for which Atlantic Lithium was granted exclusive rights to carry out mining and commercial production activities for an initial 15-year period renewable in accordance with Ghanaian law.
Omanhene of Mankessim Traditional Area, Osagyefo Amanfo Adu VI, on his part advocated for the creation of a “local fund” where 1% of collected royalties is paid to facilitate developmental projects in the mining community such as factories.
“Well, in practice, I’m very much aware when some of these monies come out, the chiefs of the interested community people ask for royalties. They get something. But with this community development fund, it’s not part of the revenues where chiefs and other interested parties are going to get anything. We are going to, we the chiefs, the existing regulations are that chiefs will get whatever they want from the royalties.
But our position is that we are going to have our environment changed. And by the time, the 12th year’s time, the mine is totally, what do you call it, the mine all depletes. We should make sure that, and the mine closes down. We have to make sure that we have something monumental to tell the future generation that, yes, this is what we got after losing our lithium and the surface of the land.”, He said
He was however concerned about the cessation of economic activities in the area since it was declared an active mining zone and called on Parliament to give a determination as to whether or not mining can take place as no activity has happened on the lands since December 2023 depriving the indigenes of economic livelihood.
“And in fact, we heard that until this process is finished, still our people are going to suffer. Our message is yes, we don’t want to force parliament to do what is not expected of them. But if we think we are not going to agree to the project, let’s know and the farmers and the community, the project-affected community, their land is released to them so that they can continue with their economic activities. Just imagine, since December 2023, no farming, nothing, no economic activity, the people will be using the land which has been declared as the active mining area. So, it is of very much concern to us that let’s make up our mind. But also, maybe based on this, what I would want parliament now to do, we all take note of this. If we cannot let the potential mining companies know that until this process is completed, maybe they should not declare the active mining area. What about assuming you don’t approve? Can they pay the losses that they’ve caused these communities? It’s an area, I think, of much concern which I want all of us to look at.”