Government to de-risk eight iron ore blocks for investors – GIISDEC

Government is determined to de-risk eight iron ore blocks earmarked for exploration to attract private investment into the development of the country’s iron ore sector.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC), William Okofo-Darteh, disclosed this on Friday, September 11, 2026, in Tianjin, China.

He was speaking at Ghana Day, held as part of the China Mining Conference and Exhibition in Tianjin, which is taking place from September 10 to 12, 2026.

Okofo-Darteh said the government was undertaking exploration along the iron ore corridor to de-risk the areas and create opportunities for private investors to participate in their development.

“Actually, we have about eight blocks lined up for exploration, which currently government is determined to de-risk all those areas. So investors don't need to do the exploration because the government is trying to do exploration along that corridor so that we open that area for iron ore development,” he said.

He said GIISDEC had also identified and worked on other high-grade iron ore deposits in the region, including deposits with significant quantities.

“We've also worked on another deposit in the region that has a very high grade and the deposit is also in a larger quantity,” he said.

Okofo-Darteh also cited another major deposit that is currently held by the government and is being prepared for private investment.

“And I can talk of a deposit which has been there for some years now. Now government has that block. And then we are putting it up for investors to come and invest in it,” he said.

According to him, the deposit is the largest iron ore resource identified so far in Ghana and could also be significant within the West African sub-region.

“So we have a huge iron ore deposit of about 1.3 billion tons of iron ore deposit. So far that is the largest in the country and if we talk of the West African sub-region, I think we have the largest,” he said.

The presentation generated interest among Chinese and other international investors attending the conference, with participants expressing willingness to explore investment opportunities in Ghana’s iron ore sector.