Elite Minerals lease was in 2012, not in forest reserve

The Mining Lease held by Elite Minerals Company Limited in the Kwaebibirem Municipality dates back to the year 2012, and does not fall in a forest reserve, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has stated. 

It explained that Med Mining Company Limited was originally granted the Mining Lease covering an area of 37.49 square kilometres (sq.km) at Dochi-Takyiman in the Kwaebibirem Municipality (then a district) in the Eastern Region and not the Kwaebibirem Forest.

That lease was for a term of 10 years to expire on July 22, 2022.

The ministry in a statement issued by its Public Affairs Unit yesterday said Med Mining applied, in accordance with section 14 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), to assign its Mining Lease to Elite Minerals Company Limited.

The ministry said on November 25, 2016, the then Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osah Mills, granted a prior approval, pursuant to section 14 of Act 703, for Med Mining to assign its Mining Lease to Elite Minerals Company Limited.

“The Dochi-Takyiman Mining Lease in the Kwaebibirem Municipality in the Eastern Region was, therefore, first granted to Med Mining in 2012 and, subsequently, assigned to Elite Minerals Company Limited in November, 2016,” the statement explained.

Prior to the expiration of the lease, Elite Minerals applied for its renewal, in accordance with section 44 of Act 703, and same was granted on March 22, 2024 for a further term of 12 years to expire on March 21, 2036.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Elite Minerals Company Limited’s Mining Lease dated 22nd March, 2024 is a renewal of an earlier mining lease dated 23rd July, 2012, and the said Lease does not fall in any Forest Reserve.

The statement is in response to reports that daughters of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, are either associated with a certain company and/or involved in illegal mining. 

Background

In a video posted online, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, accused the government of issuing mining licences as though there was no tomorrow.

He alleged that the daughters of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo were either associated with a certain company and/or involved in illegal mining.

The MP also pointed out that Elite Minerals was seeking to acquire “exclusive concession of the Volta Region’s salt” and that the company “would have had gold, lithium and salt in the Volta Region.”

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources described those assertions as false, saying the allegation was born out of ignorance of the laws governing minerals and mining in the country.

“A ‘restricted mining lease’ is not the same as an ‘exclusive concession.’ By section 111 of the Act 703, a restricted mining lease is ‘a lease to mine industrial minerals,’ such as salt,” the statement explained.

It said any application for a lease to mine salt would be an application for a “restricted mining lease.”

However, that did not grant any exclusive right to the holder of the mineral right, the ministry said. 

Salt

“Indeed, it is public knowledge that a number of companies are mining salt in the Volta Region, including Seven Seas Salt Limited, which holds the largest salt concession in the Volta Region, granted in the year 2011 over an area measuring approximately 6,004.48 acres, and whose operations have been the subject-matter of a number of questions in Parliament,” the ministry averred.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources added that while it welcomed the public interest in the fight against illegal mining, it continued to implore the general public to be factual in their comments.

“The Ministry wishes to assure the people of Ghana of its unwavering commitment to the fight against illegal mining, and doing so with the highest standards of integrity, transparency and candour, in the public interest,” the ministry stressed.