Search This Blog

MasterMetals Search

February 10, 2012

Ghana sets up committee to review mining contracts - FAST NEWS | Mineweb

Ghana sets up committee to review mining contracts

The country has set up a committee to review and renegotiate stability investment agreements with mining companies, a senior government official said Thursday.

Posted: Thursday , 09 Feb 2012

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -

Ghana, Africa's second-largest gold mining state, has set up a committee to review stability investment agreements with mining houses, a senior government official said on Thursday.

"It will include all companies that have stability agreements," Benjamin Aryee, the chief executive of Ghana's Minerals Commission, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Cape Town.

"Ghana believes in the sanctity of contracts. But in all contracts there are review provisions," he said.

Ghana's Finance Minister initially unveiled the plan to review mining stability agreements in October. The government has since detailed plans to raise the corporate mining tax to 35 percent from 25 percent and introduce a 10 percent windfall tax as well to boost the state share of revenues.

The country set up a committee to review and renegotiate mining contracts last week.

Mining companies that have had stability agreements in Ghana include South African-based AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third largest gold producer.

Gold Fields, the world's fourth largest gold producer company, has said such a move might kill planned projects that could bring $1 billion of investment into the West African nation.

Ghana's review comes against the backdrop of a surge of resource nationalism across Africa as governments aim to extract move revenue from a sector that has failed to translate mineral wealth into broad prosperity.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard, editing by Richard Valdmanis)

© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved

Disclaimer

MINEWEB is an interactive publication, with rolling deadlines through each day, commencing in the Sydney morning, and concluding, 24 hours later, in the Vancouver evening. If you believe your side of an issue deserves inclusion, but has failed to meet one of our deadlines, you are invited to notify the Editor in Chief in Johannesburg, and we will include you in our editing and expanding on our stories. Email him at alechogg@gmail.com



Mineweb.com - The world's premier mining and mining investment website Ghana sets up committee to review mining contracts - FAST NEWS | Mineweb

The MasterMetals Blog

No comments:

Post a Comment

Commented on MasterMetals

ShareThis

MasterMetals’ Tweets