Mining companies procured $1.23bn worth of goods in 2017

Mining companies operating in the country procured $1.23 billion worth of goods and services in 2017.

This represents 34 percent of mineral revenue from the sector. This is, however, less than the 1.5 billion dollar volume of goods and services sourced locally in 2015.

There have been calls for local businesses in the value chain to position themselves to feed the supply needs of these multinational mining firms.

CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemana Koney told Starr Business, if local supplies meet international standards, there is a vast opportunity for them to export to neighbouring countries.

The Chamber of Mines, he added has signed an MOU with the Ghana Standards Authority “to ensure that we are able to work with local manufacturing firms to improve the quality of their input up to a certain level before they go into the mines.”

According to him, “Once we start doing this what we will be doing indirectly is growing the manufacturing base” of the country and “providing an opportunity for even local entrepreneurs to sell or market into neighbouring markets.”