Development minerals, an important natural resource that lacks attention amidst Ghana’s quest to raise revenue for massive infrastructural projects and settle compensation of employees. Considered as a “low hanging opportunity for real value addition”, the term “development minerals” was coined by the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the European Union (ACP-EU) to underscore their importance to national development. A study conducted by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy shows that 80% of global mineral extraction in the year 2017 was made up of development minerals. In Ghana, they account for only 0.4% of revenue from the mining sector despite increased activity at quarry sites across the country that feeds the construction sector however its potential is yet to be realised due to weak oversight by relevant regulatory bodies. When done right with proper enforcement of compliance measures, industrial minerals could earn Ghana eighteen times the amount of revenue being sort from mining sector.
Development minerals are defined as minerals and materials that are mined, processed, manufactured and used in industries such as construction, manufacturing and agriculture. Examples of development minerals include; sand, stones, gravels, and clay.
During a session with journalists to present findings of ACEP’s study, Senior Policy Analyst and Head of Monitoring & Evaluation, Maybel Acquaye, explored ways the government could deploy in order to harness the economic potential of development minerals. She reminded the State about the need to go beyond extracting minerals and add value to them. According to her, too much attention is placed on raw extraction of the mineral it often elude policy makers the enormous benefit that can be derived from value addition. She said, “a lot of the times, our development of industrial minerals is focused on the raw extraction and direct use in our construction or building. Sometimes, when it comes to, I highlighted the use of clay, which is usually on low-value local and traditional porcelain like the asanka and maybe our flowerpots used by our horticulturists. But our studies indicate that there are a lot more opportunities within the value chain that we can actually make more in terms of the economic benefits.”
ACEP observed among others that Ghana’s mining laws are largely focused on ‘high-value’ mining such as gold with little or no attention on development minerals with both development minerals and high-value minerals treated under the same tax framework. Further, the think tank observed that inability of existing policy to recognise the importance of other mining activities in the country says much about the lopsided way the sector has been viewed by policy makers.
“So instead of just extracting industrial minerals and just using them for local production, construction, pottery and all that, we can begin to deepen focus, starting from policy amendments or policy reforms, to deepen focus on industrial minerals. Such that it does not come as secondary something during policy discourse or within the extractive industry, but it is deep as something more substantial that government can make more from moving along the value chain,” she said.
ACEP has therefore proposed pathways for the development of industrial minerals within short term priorities, medium term priorities and long term priorities which include building national mapping and data transparency; creating a harmonised rule for licencing, all the way to ensuring industrial diversification and regional trade in intermediate and finished goods. This they believe would open opportunity for the needed foreign direct investment into the country.