Dr. Stephen Manteaw, Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), strongly asserted that the exportation of Ghana’s critical minerals to other countries must be curtailed through immediate and effective legislation.
Stressing that, for the country to maximize these benefits, there is a crucial need for an integrated mining sector and a policy to refine its raw minerals locally to create more jobs for its citizens.
Dr. Manteaw asserted in an interview during a two-day training workshop organized by GHEITI was sponsored by the GIZ (German Development Cooperation) and the Ministry of Finance, to help discuss the 2020 GHEITI reports on mining, oil, and gas.
Ghana must take urgent measures to prevent the exportation of its critical minerals, including manganese, bauxite, and lithium, in their raw form.
More so, Ghana must capitalize on the discovery of these critical minerals by urgently establishing value-added factories and enterprises.
This will not only diversify the economy away from overreliance on mining but also enable the state to generate significant revenues through taxes.
“Exportation of critical minerals to other countries would thwart the country’s vision of establishing a steel industry.
It is imperative that we stop exporting critical minerals to other countries if we hope to achieve our vision of establishing a steel industry.
Importing manganese and bauxite would become necessary for the steel industry once these minerals are depleted,” he explained.
According to him, the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy has resulted in an increased demand for minerals such as lithium, manganese, nickel, iron, graphite, and bauxite, which are essential for generating renewable energy.
It is absolutely imperative to cease the exportation of critical raw materials such as manganese and bauxite in order to save the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Company from imminent collapse.
About Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) he explained is global for standard transparency and accountability in the oil, gas, and mining sectors.
Ghana signed into the EITI In 2003 to promote good governance in the management of its natural resources.
The primary objectives of GHEITI are to ensure transparency and accountability in the payments and revenues in the extractive sector, reduce the potential for all forms of corruption in the sector, improve the investment climate, strengthen government, and company systems, and contribute to enhanced revenue mobilization to support government’s development agenda. Since the signing up to the EITI in 2003, Ghana has produced 17 mining and 10 oil and gas reports.
