The Minister for Finance, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday, 15th November 2023 presented the budget statement and economic policy of Ghana for the 2024 fiscal year.
Speaking on efforts made by the Government in the Mining sector, the Minister said the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources through the Minerals Commission has installed 69 tracking devices to track the movement of earth-moving machines and mining equipment nationwide, in compliance with the Minerals and Mining Regulations 2020 (L.I. 2404).
He also mentioned that the Minerals Commission procured and distributed 5,087,706 hybrid oil-palm seedlings and 1,750,000 coconut seedlings to beneficiary farmers in the Ashanti, Central and Eastern Regions under the Alternative Livelihood Project. In addition, the Commission reclaimed a total of 462.01ha of degraded mined-out areas in the Ashanti, Central and Western North Regions. Adding that in 2024, the Commission will continue to reclaim more degraded mined-out areas.
On the Gold for Oil, the Minister said the Bank of Ghana has purchased 17.89 tonnes of gold to boost the country’s gold reserves. The move, he said has contributed immensely to stabilising the cedi/dollar exchange rate and reduced the price of petroleum (gasoil) from GHs.23 per litre to GHs 12 per litre.
Touching on developments in the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) he said through their strategic partners, GIADEC has completed the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) Report that has been prepared in line with Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) standards.
He indicated that the results of the report show significant bauxite quantities making the project a commercially viable one. In 2024, the corporation along with its partners will undertake the drilling and MRE for Project 3 and commence Valco retrofit and Project 2 mine development.
