Wisdom Edem Gomashie is a mining consultant
A mining consultant, Wisdom Edem Gomashie, has asked the Ministry of
Lands and Natural Resources, and the Minerals Commission to publicly disclose the specific provisions of the Minerals and Mining (Licensing) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2176) that formed the basis of the rejection of the renewal of Gold Fields’ Damang Mine lease.
In a release made available to GhanaWeb, he posed a series of questions to the government, while noting that the decision to reject the lease sends a wrong signal to the investor community.
Among the things he stated in his release are the following:
1. Was the extension application not submitted 90 days prior to the expiration of the existing lease? A check shows that Gold Fields submitted the extension application in December 2024. What might the situation be?
2. Did the applicants provide any false or misleading information that the regulator has now discovered?
3. Did the applicant refuse to provide information or correct an error under regulation 191(2) within 10 days from the day of notice?
4. Additionally, does the applicant, by operating that specific lease, violate any provisions of the lease or contravene or fail to fulfil certain guarantees outlined in the 2016 Aboso Development Agreement between the Government of Ghana and Gold Fields Ghana Limited?”
Goldfields’ application for an extension of its lease for the Damang Mine has been rejected by the government.
A memo to staff indicated that the current lease will expire on April 18, 2025. However, all efforts to renew it have so far been unsuccessful.
The company is currently engaging with the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in an attempt to resolve the situation.
The consultant noted that it is already clear from the release that the company has received a rejection notice.
“Therefore, in accordance with Regulation 192(2) of LI 2176, the notification made by the Minerals Commission on behalf of the Minister to the company must be made public. The Minerals Commission’s technical capacity cannot be questioned, especially in recent years, as there has been significant improvement in the delivery of its mandate in the Large-Scale Mining sector,” he said.
In the meantime, Gold Fields has informed its workers to begin preparing for the expiry of the lease.
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