Ghana is intensifying efforts to boost local content participation in its mining sector, enhancing employment, and revenue generation. The Mining in Motion Summit in June 2025 will spotlight these initiatives. The small-scale mining sector currently supports over 5 million individuals and generated significant export revenue, aided by new policies and financing programs.
Ghana is actively enhancing local content participation in its mining sector, aiming to maximize the benefits derived from its mineral resources. This strategy involves supporting small-scale miners, promoting local procurement, and ensuring that international companies hire and train local personnel, thereby fostering job creation and contributing to GDP growth through the expansion of the mining industry.
The upcoming Mining in Motion Summit, scheduled for June 2nd to 4th, 2025, in Accra, will emphasize the role of local mining entities. The summit seeks to highlight the collaborative efforts between the government and international partners to accelerate economic growth via increased local participation in the mining sector.
Ghana’s commitment to enhancing local involvement is producing notable outcomes, particularly in the small-scale gold mining arena, where approximately one million individuals are employed and an additional 4.5 million are indirectly supported, generating over $5 billion in export revenue in 2024 alone.
To further empower local stakeholders, the government has introduced pivotal policy reforms along with financing and skills training initiatives. In January 2025, the establishment of the Gold Board was announced, set to commence operations in March 2025. This board aims to unify gold output from both small-scale and industrial mining projects for international export, streamlining gold commercialization for local miners.
In August 2024, Ghana unveiled a Cooperative Mining Policy intended to create community mining cooperatives. These cooperatives will offer training, register miners, and issue concessions, thereby promoting job creation and the formalization of the mining sector.
Additionally, World Bank funding secured in April 2024 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources will support the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project. This initiative aims to improve the formalization of small-scale mining through District Mining Committees. Moreover, the Minerals and Mining (Local Content & Local Participation) Regulations of 2020 require international companies to procure Ghanaian goods and services, fostering local firm participation in project development.
Several significant projects are currently underway, such as Goldstone’s Homase Mine, Atlantic Lithium’s Ewoyaa Project, Cardinal Namdini Gold Mine, and Newmont’s Ahafo North Project, which reinforces local content involvement within Ghana’s mining sector.
Against this backdrop, the forthcoming Mining in Motion Summit will provide a venue for high-level discussions and networking, focusing on the critical trends and advancements in local content development within Ghana’s mining industry.
In conclusion, Ghana’s strategic initiatives to enhance local content participation in the mining sector have begun to yield significant benefits, including job creation and increased revenue. Through key policy reforms and collaborative efforts, the government is establishing a framework to empower local miners and businesses. The upcoming Mining in Motion Summit is poised to further foster dialogue and collaboration aimed at strengthening these developments in Ghana’s mining landscape.
Original Source: africanminingmarket.com
