Local content not importation — Ken Ashigbey

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, has said the country’s local content policy framework must move beyond import-based participation towards manufacturing and value addition within the mining sector.

He said although Ghana had made significant progress in local participation in mining services over the years, the next phase of local content development should focus on producing mining inputs locally and building industries around the sector.

Speaking in an interview on Graphic Online TV, Mr Ashigbey said local content should no longer be measured simply by whether a Ghanaian owned the importing company ,but rather by whether the products used in the mining industry were manufactured in Ghana.

“What we need to be doing now is moving local content into manufacturing.

“If you have grinding media that is made in Ghana, it could be made by a foreigner, but once it is manufactured in Ghana, that should qualify as local content,” he stated.

Collaboration 

He explained that Ghana must deliberately encourage partnerships between local companies and global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to establish production and servicing facilities within the country.

He cited examples of partnerships involving mining equipment manufacturers and local firms, stressing that such collaborations could create jobs, deepen industrial capacity and generate foreign exchange earnings through exports to other mining jurisdictions within the sub-region.

Industrialisation

Mr Ashigbey said the country’s mining sector should be positioned as a catalyst for industrialisation and broader economic transformation rather than merely a source of export earnings and taxes.

“We believe that mining should be positioned as the catalyst for industrialisation and development,” he stated.

He explained that Ghana had mined minerals for decades, but the country now needed to focus on how mining could create long-term value beyond extraction.

“The chance is to use mining as a catalyst for industrialisation, enterprise growth and economic transformation,” he said.

According to him, the large demand generated by mining companies for goods and services provided a strong foundation for developing local industries capable of supplying the sector.

Such an approach, he said, would help Ghana build industries that would outlive the country’s mineral resources.

“If you are able to situate industrial policy on mining, you would be able to build industries that supply the mines and create value that would outlive the minerals themselves,” he said.

Procurement spending

Mr Ashigbey further argued that the real economic opportunity in mining lay not only in royalties and taxes but also in the huge procurement spending within the sector.

He said mining firms spent substantial amounts on goods and services, often exceeding the amounts paid in taxes and royalties.

“If you look at the financials of most mining firms, you find out that the majority of the spending stays more at the services that are provided than the royalties and taxes that we take,” he said.

He, therefore, urged policymakers to focus more attention on developing local capacity to produce mining inputs and services.

According to him, countries such as South Africa had successfully built strong industrial ecosystems around mining through manufacturing and technical services.

Competitiveness 

The Chamber CEO also raised concerns about Ghana’s mining fiscal regime, warning that increasing taxes and levies could make the country less competitive as a mining investment destination.

He said current taxes, royalties and levies imposed on mining companies had pushed government’s share of mining profits beyond internationally recommended thresholds.

“At today’s gold prices, your royalties could move to about 12 per cent. When you add other levies and corporate income tax, government is taking over 60 per cent of the profits that come out of mining,” he stated.

He explained that while the government had legitimate revenue mobilisation interests, excessive fiscal burdens could discourage both local and foreign investment in the sector.

“We need to find other ways of extracting value from the mining sector without necessarily making Ghana uncompetitive,” he said.

Mr Ashigbey further stressed the need for policy stability and certainty in the mining industry, arguing that long-term investors required predictable fiscal regimes to commit substantial capital to mining projects.

“The mining industry is capital intensive and long-term. Investors need certainty,” he said.