President John Mahama, who
announced this, says the over-reliance on primary production has over the years
denied the country of the expected benefits from mining.
In a statement, General
Secretary of the GMWU, Prince William Ankrah, noted that the absence of
secondary processing of Ghana’s mineral resources was basically driven by “a
kind of hegemony that created the impression that the country can only generate
money from raw gold, bauxite and other minerals.”
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The group is advocating a legal
provision that warrants at least 20 per cent of raw gold produced in the
country is retained for that purpose must be initiated as a matter of urgency.
Ghana’s gold refinery notion
has died down for decades, including Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s vision of establishing
a Gold refinery at Tarkwa – the proposed facility for the refinery has been
turned into a university hostel.
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“This challenges the status quo
of continuing to export minerals in their raw state,” the statement said.
Mr. Ankrah added that having an
aluminium smelting factory in Ghana for Bauxite will also be of great help to
the country in respect of revenue enhancement as well as a vibrant
manufacturing sector.
He emphasized that the same can
apply to diamond at Akwatia as well as iron ore in the Oppong Valley which is
yet to be tapped depending on its commercial viability.
“Cumulatively, this could have
a great job opening for our struggling economy and help boost the economic
activities in the host communities,” he said.
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Despite the current challenges
in the mining sector; the GMWU thinks “the priority should be on ethical
investments character with a shared architecture that benefits various
stakeholders.”
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