GSD to Intensify Prospecting

The Geological Survey Department (GSD) says Ghana must accelerate the exploitation of alternative mineral resources to maximize foreign exchange earnings and boost balance of payment difficulties.

It noted that the prospecting of base metals such as nickel, copper and Iron, whose exploitation has been relegated into the background, could fetch Ghana the much needed foreign exchange earnings from the world market.The GSD is the government agency tasked with providing geological and geo-hazards information and is a major supplier of geological information for the mineral industry.

Mr Philip Oduro Amoako, a Director at GSD told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Business Desk that alternative mineral resources must be tapped vigorously to enable the country break away from the over reliance on gold.

Such discoveries would also make it possible for government to diversify and boost its revenue generating sources while maintaining its hold on the traditional ones.

Mr Amoako said prospecting for these commodities were restricted in the past "because the main focus then was to attract enough investment into the production of gold because of its boom in those early years.

"We intend to break away from this tradition and help lay a solid foundation for the industry," he said, and added that research work so far carried out by the department on such other mineral deposits had revealed a promising prospect of existence of such deposits for future exploitation.

He said all that was required was to give the department the necessary push to be able to carry out more prospecting activities and put up a comprehensive report to prop up investor confidence and attract investments into such exploration.

Mr Amoako said the department's lack of machinery and sensitive equipment would not hinder its efforts to break the mono-mineral economy that Ghana has today.

Touching on the other aspects of the department's work, Mr Amoako said it would continue to provide public education on earthquakes and geo-hazards in general throughout the country.

The Department would also continue to put up geological maps for all the districts in the country to enhance land use planning and exploitation of any mineral deposits that might occur in their areas.

The department has contributed immensely to the drawing up of geological maps for the country, identifying mineral resources and locating potential dam sites in the country, he added.