FLASHBACK: Ghana may start importing stones soon – MIIF

Chief Executive Officer of Mineral Income Investment Fund, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, warned that Ghana risks importing stones if resources are not managed judiciously.

“Our research shows that there is a huge potential in the other mineral sector. Quarry is one and salt is another. There are only two countries, Ghana and Senegal that have the potential to provide industrial salt, but Nigeria keeps bypassing us to Brazil to bring salt to support their petroleum industry. The potential of salt considering the fact that gold is more finite makes salt much bigger in terms of long-term sustainable value than gold," he noted.

Read the full story originally published on April 4, 2022, by GhanaWeb

Chief Executive Officer of Mineral Income Investment Fund, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, has stated that if Ghana does not manage its resources judiciously, it will start importing stones soon.

He indicated that Ghana is not taking advantage of its mineral resources especially salt as its focus has been largely on gold.

He made these comments when he spoke to CitiNews at the opening of the 2022 Ghana Mining Week and Gold Expo in Takoradi.

“Our research shows that there is a huge potential in the other mineral sector. Quarry is one and salt is another. There are only two countries, Ghana and Senegal that have the potential to provide industrial salt, but Nigeria keeps bypassing us to Brazil to bring salt to support their petroleum industry. The potential of salt considering the fact that gold is more finite makes salt much bigger in terms of long-term sustainable value than gold," he noted.

Nana Yaw Koranteng also lamented that the country loses over GH¢50 million annually in royalties from quarry.

He said this is due to the over-concentration and reliance on gold resources.

“92% of our royalties are coming from gold, so there is a leaning towards gold because that is where we have our most royalties. So, that is the problem. If you look at the quarry sector, it is in line with our economic and infrastructure development. So as far as you have the infrastructure and economic development growth, there should be a corresponding increase in its royalties. We are supposed to have about, a GH¢100 million in royalties annually. In a worst-case scenario, we should have at least GH¢35 million to GH¢ 56 million but in 2020 we had only GH¢3.6 million which means there is a big problem with the quarries," he said.

Watch the latest edition of BizTech and Biz Headlines below: