“Gold city” to be established in Ghana- Minister

Hon Inusah Fuseini (MP) Sector Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has hinted that government could leverage on the expertise of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) as a springboard to establish a “Gold City” in Ghana modelled along the lines of similar facilities in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Johannesburg (South Africa).

“The world class facility will provide a unique opportunity for the accelerated transformation of the mining industry in Ghana through enhanced value addition by offering an excellent platform to nurture, sharpen and develop the skills of our indigenous craftsmen to international standards. “ declared the Lands and Natural Resources Minister .

He therefore charged the management of PMMC to submit for consideration of government a strategy spelling out the necessary modalities, specific guidelines and timeframes for the implementation of the project and stressing that “ this could help to recapitalise the organisation” Hon Inusah Fuseini made the announcement when he visited PMMC as part of his familiarisation tour of agencies under his Ministry. The occasion afforded the sector Minister an opportunity to acquaint himself at first hand with the operations of the facility and brainstorm with management on possibly solutions to challenges confronting the state-owned organisation .

Hon Inusah Fuseini underscored the importance of PMMC as a key stakeholder in the management and utilisation of the nation’s mineral resources as the value they add to the minerals earn more income for the country than the raw minerals exported by mining companies.

Through its work, the sector Minister pointed out that PMMC was fulfilling one of the government’s desire to make jewellery fabricated with the nation’s precious minerals available locally to Ghanaians and visitors to the country while providing a ready market required for the development of small scale mining sector in Ghana.

Hon Inusah Fuseini bemoaned the high number of court cases involving the PMMC before the courts and requested for an investigation into circumstances that has led to this development which was adversely affecting the finances of the company.

Welcoming the Hon Minister, Mr. Reuben Damptey, Managing Director of PMMC revealed that the company which was established in 1963 has honoured all statutory payments to government and has generated over $1.6b in repatriated export foreign exchange earnings for government since 2007 while GH5.4m was grossed by the company from the sale of handcrafted jewellery in 2012. Highlighting the challenges confronting the company, the Managing Director mentioned cited lack of capital to renew plant & equipment as an issue of major concern and pleaded with the Hon minister to follow-up on the company’s application for a “Public Private Partnership”. He also cited the lost of tax revenue to government through the influx of unregistered miners into the sector as an area of concern.