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ADu ReVIeW

Mali looks Ghana goes

beyond gold digital

ali, Africa’s fourth largest gold producer, is looking to diversify
Maway from the precious metal into other commodities.
The West African country produced more than 2 moz gold from
13 active mines in 2018 but speaking in the opening session of Af-
rica Down Under Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Lelenta Hawa
Baba Ba, said the Government had plans to expand production
into rare earths, phosphate and bauxite.
Baba Ba’s appearance at the conference came just two weeks
after ASX-listed Mali Lithium Ltd received a mining permit for its
Goulamina lithium project in the country’s south.
Baba Ba said she hoped Goulamina would be the first of a new
generation of mines which would see Mali repeat the success it
has had in gold. She said the country had good prospects for rare
earths, phosphate, uranium, iron ore and bauxite.
The granting of Mali Lithium’s permit highlighted the Govern-
ment’s commitment to diversification, according to the company’s Naana Eyiah
managing director Chris Evans.
“Mali has a developed mining culture and outstanding track re- newly digitised mining cadastre system should increase
cord of facilitating and rapidly permitting projects,” Evans said. “It A transparency and accessibility in Ghana’s exploration sector.
has a supportive government which is actively seeking to diversify Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Naana Ey-
its minerals sector.” iah, said the new system would be up and running before the
Baba Ba said the Government had also reinforced its commit- end of this year.
ment to attracting further investment in the sector by creating a “Ghana is on the brink of going online with our mineral right
department dedicated to making mining one of the main levers of application system,” Eyiah said. “This means that investors can
economic growth. She said the Mining Code and related legisla- sit here in Australia and apply for mining rights on a digital plat-
tion had a number of favourable fiscal regulations, including stable form. Once fully operationalised, by December 2019, it will allow
transfer of funds, tax exemptions for imports and free movement for improved access to information for companies, investors,
of human resources, capital and goods. stakeholders and civil society to access mineral rights informa-
Recent changes to the Mining Code included limiting the State’s tion from any part of the globe and increased transparency in
share of projects to 20%, renewal of licences without dropping mineral rights administration and associated revenues.”
ground and the introduction of new community development re- Ghana is already a major African gold producer, with 4.9 moz
quirements, including the building of infrastructure for local use. gold produced in 2018, however, according to Eyiah, the Gov-
ernment would like to attract further investment, particularly
Lelenta Hawa Baba Ba from Australia.
“Ghana is working hard at enhancing its exploration attrac-
tiveness, with the number of exploration companies working in
Ghana currently standing at 141,” she said.
Among the other initiatives being developed is an enhanced
geoscience database and improvements to the Ghana Minerals
Commission.
“Key roles have been merged or realigned to bring about co-
hesion, speed, flexibility, professionalism and career growth.
Also, new offices have been created to ensure these regulatory
agencies are easily accessible,” Eyiah said.

Ivorian policy revamp imminent

ote d’Ivoire’s eight-year objective of in- manganese production will reach 860,000t tral system – to reduce processing times
Ccreasing mining’s share of GDP from (2011: 41,000t) and lateritic nickel 889,580t. and increase transparency – and improve-
2% to 4% by 2020 is still on track, according With more than 60 exploration compa- ments to the geoscientific database were
to director general of Mines and Geology, nies active in the country, Coulibaly is con- key challenges for Cote d’Ivoire.
Ibrahima Coulibaly. fident Ivorian gold production will continue The Government is also preparing a min-
Cote d’Ivoire has enjoyed steady produc- to grow but admitted the Mining Code and ing policy for the 2020-2025 period with
tion growth since the end of civil war hostili- regulatory environment needed some fine- the selection of a consultant to prepare the
ties in 2010. Gold production was expected tuning. draft policy expected later this year.
to reach 26t in 2019 (2011: 12.4t) while He identified modernisation of the cadas-

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