Isaac Tandoh, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, has confirmed that Ghana is prepared to take over management of the Damang Mine after the government decided not to extend Gold Fields’ mining lease, which is set to expire in April 2025.
Speaking about the site’s future on the Citi Breakfast Show on April 15, 2025, Mr. Tandoh emphasized that although the nation still welcomes foreign investments, mining contracts cannot be perpetual.
“We support foreign investments, but agreement cannot be in perpetuity. At a point in time, certain things will have to revert to normal. So, those who have an agreement, we will support them to do their work, but when the agreement is over, and you have a better proposition, we will look at it. If not, we will take over the place,” he stated.
“We will run it,” Mr. Tandoh said plainly when asked what Ghana plans to do with the Damang mine following Gold Fields’ departure.
There are a number of smaller, unmined pits in the Damang concession that local experts can start working on right now, he said, dismissing worries about Ghana’s ability to run the mine.
He believes that the nation may eventually go back and plan how to expand the mine’s larger, more capital-intensive sections, which Gold Fields hasn’t invested in since 2018.
He also emphasized that there is no shortage of technical expertise in the area needed for mining.
“People have been talking about capacity and capital and all… there are smaller pits they didn’t complete in mining them out, we can commence mining. We have a lot of local capacity rock shove, BCMs, engineers and planners; all these guys are in there that we can use to start the mining. Then we can get to the drawing board and strategise the big capital which they have been differing since 2018, to see how we can come back,” he stated.
“The whole of the Damang stretch it is only one expatriate that is running. In Tarkwa, Ghanaians are running them and same as Ahafo. So the issue of human capacity or technical knowhow is neither here nor there,” he stated.
Tandoh added that every conversation to date suggests that the Damang Mine will be operated by the state following Gold Fields’ departure.
“In all the meetings I have been in and all the discussions I have had, we are looking at the state running the mine. No individual will be made to do that,” he added.
Source: newsthemegh.com