Ghana losing battle against galamsey as heavy metals are found in food exports | BizHeadlines

In business this week, Government of Ghana has announced that the country is back on the international financial markets after successfully completing the transaction of restructuring $13 billion in Eurobonds on October 8, 2024.

Back in June this year, the Ad Hoc Group of International Bondholders and government reached an agreement in principle for restructuring the outstanding Eurobonds.

The agreement was approved by the International Monetary Fund as compatible with the program parameters and met the comparability of treatment requirements of the Official Creditor Committee for Ghana.

On financial matters, China's Zijin Mining Group (601899.SS), will buy the Akyem Gold Mine Project in Ghana from U.S. based Newmont Corp (NEM.N), for $1 billion, the companies said on Wednesday.

The sale is a part of Newmont's ongoing programme to divest non-core assets as the company makes a strategic shift to focus on its tier one assets, the U.S. gold producer said.

Newmont is expected to receive cash consideration of $900 million upon the deal's closure, with a further $100 million upon satisfaction of certain conditions.

The deal will see Zijin's unit Gold Source International acquiring a subsidiary of Newmont, which in turn owns the Akyem project.

Also on import and export, the Chief Executive Officer of Electrochem Ghana Limited, Abdul Razak Adam, has called on the government to ban the importation of salt.

According to him, Ghana has a large quantity of this produce, and importing this commodity will cause more harm than good to the local industry.

Citing Electrochem as an example, Mr. Adam said the salt mining firm could produce about two million metric tonnes of salt per year.

This is more than the annual salt consumption of the country, which is pegged at approximately 750,000 metric tonnes.

Ernestina Serwaa Asante hosted this week's BizHeadlines.