{"id":103355,"date":"2025-11-14T19:21:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103355"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:21:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:21:36","slug":"prioritise-local-manufacturing-in-ghanas-mining-industry-kenneth-ashigbey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103355","title":{"rendered":"Prioritise local manufacturing in Ghana\u2019s mining industry \u2013\u00a0Kenneth Ashigbey\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Kenneth\u00a0Ashigbey, has\u00a0stated\u00a0that local manufacturing should be prioritised in\u00a0Ghana\u2019s mining industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that with mining, there was a\u00a0need\u00a0to look at the whole value chain and see how Ghanaians could\u00a0make\u00a0extra value out of the\u00a0industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Addressing mining companies, suppliers, policymakers, financial institutions, and academia at the opening ceremony of the 2025 Mining Industry Marketing Expo (MIME) at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in\u00a0Tarkwa, Dr\u00a0Ashigbey\u00a0revealed that last year the industry spent $3.5 billion on local products and services, including fuel and electricity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cA large chunk of this $3.5 billion that we are calling local\u00a0content,\u00a0there\u00a0was not\u00a0a company or somebody in Ghana who took the order and imported it from elsewhere. For the Chamber, this is where we believe that there should be a shift in paradigm\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that before the last ounce of gold, ton of manganese, bauxite or diamond would be taken out of the ground, we should shift to manufacturing industries that add value, so that the $3.5 billion that was spent by the mining industry, that equates to about 49 per cent of the value that even the owners of Mines do not get, we can get Ghanaians owning that and we don\u2019t just play in the intermediation\u201d he added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He noted that Ghana would only get the added margin from the $3.5 billion if it followed the path some of their members were taking; for instance, the platinum sponsor for this year\u2019s event, Star Steels Limited, had started producing a grinding mill that matched global market standards in Ghana.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CEO said, \u201cIf we get our mining companies buying it, the jobs and profits will stay in Ghana, and they will pay taxes based on it. We have\u00a0Qualiplast\u00a0Limited and Mark Partners also producing components in Ghana. This is what we want to encourage\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr\u00a0Ashigbey\u00a0announced that the chamber was not just advocating and pushing their members to do it, but they had matched their words with actions and investments, adding, \u201cSo, in\u00a0UMaT,\u00a0for instance, we are working with some of the professors, led by Professor\u00a0Buah, to look into the issues of activated carbon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to him, there was a $40 million demand for activated carbon every year, but the majority of that was imported, so working together with\u00a0UMaT,\u00a0they were trying to get a local substitute for that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cActivated carbon, he explained, \u201ccomes from palm kernel shells, coconut shells, and even bamboo, so what is happening is that prof.\u00a0Buah\u00a0and his team have put together a reactor to produce that. The product has been tested by some of our Mines, and they have been found to meet the quality standard\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He suggested that with the activated carbon, they could reclaim lands damaged by illegal mining by planting oil palm and coconut trees to produce the kernels and shells they needed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, he\u00a0stated\u00a0that it was not just about products, but services played\u00a0a big role, stressing\u00a0that they could focus on training and localising some of the services they\u00a0required.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to provide services not just locally, but also to other mining\u00a0jurisdictions. The purpose of the Mining Expo was to connect member mining companies and suppliers to push their agenda.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, that by 2028, when the Chamber turns 100, most of their local content would be locally manufactured in this country\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Madam Victoria\u00a0Awuni, the Deputy CEO of Minerals Commission in charge of Policy Planning, Mineral Titles, and Local Content, reiterated that achieving meaningful local content required collaboration, partnerships, and impactful joint ventures, and that the corporation had helped\u00a0establish\u00a0an ecosystem which local businesses flourished.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u00a0advised them to\u00a0embed local content as part of their individual organizational culture, as opposed to just satisfying Minerals Commission regulations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Madam\u00a0Awuni said they should work together to ensure that local content remained at the heart of mining, because when local communities thrived, the entire industry and the nation thrived.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PrioritiseThe Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Kenneth\u00a0Ashigbey, has\u00a0stated\u00a0that local manufacturing should be prioritised in\u00a0Ghana\u2019s mining industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8305,6587,1883,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kenneth-ashigbey","category-mining-sector","category-national","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}