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The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, and Member of Parliament for Damongo Constituency, Samuel A. Jinapor says Ghana will build the full value chain of its green minerals to retain the value of the minerals in the country.

The Minister was speaking at the Africa CEO Forum, being held in Abidjan Cote D’Ivoire, where he participated in a panel discussion on the topic “Green Minerals: How to Fully Seize on a Historic Opportunity.”

Green minerals, generally, refer to minerals and metals needed to support the transition to clean-energy technologies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and reaching net zero. They include minerals like copper, lithium, cobalt, bauxite, graphite, manganese and nickel. With a global focus on tackling climate change and its negative impacts on lives and livelihood, there has been a concerted effort to move away from fossil fuels, used to power vehicles, to electric cars which will run on batteries and be more friendly to the environment.

It is estimated that by the year 2040, over sixty-five percent (65%) of vehicles that would be sold across the world would be electric vehicles, and the world will need close to Five Thousand Gigawatts Hour (5,000GWh) of lithium-ion batteries per year to power these vehicles.

With Ghana holding some commercial quantities of lithium, one of the main minerals needed for the green transition, Mr. Jinapor says Government will concentrate on building the full value chain of these minerals here in Ghana, to ensure that the Ghanaian people benefit from these resources. Using the example of bauxite, the Minister said the days when we export bauxite and turn around to import alumina, which is refined bauxite, for VALCO to smelt is over. He said the real value of these minerals lies in their value addition and not the raw minerals.

Mr. Jinapor said the Government of President Akufo-Addo, is building the mining sector of the country on three main pillars, certainty in the industry anchored on the rule of law to boost investor confidence, value addition from mining to downstream production and robust local content and local participation. The Minister said this policy underpins the establishment of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation (GIISDEC) which have been tasked to promote and develop integrated aluminium and iron and steel industries in the country.

According to Mr. Jinapor, just as Government is doing for these industries, Government will ensure that the full value chain of lithium, as well as other green minerals, is retained in Ghana.

In addition to building the full value chain, the Minister said Government is committed to local content and local participation in the mining industry, including these emerging minerals. He said the surest way of ensuring that the mining industry has linkages to the other sectors of the economy is through value addition and local content.

Speaking directly to the investor community, Mr. Jinapor said Ghana, with her democratic principles, good and accountable governance, respect for the rule of law and human rights as well as the sanctity of contracts, is the number one destination for investment on the continent. He said Government is committed to providing a conducive environment for businesses to thrive for the benefit of investors and the people of Ghana.
 
The Africa CEO Forum is an annual gathering of decision-makers from the largest African companies, international investors, multinational executives, Heads of State, Ministers, and representatives of the main financial institutions operating on the continent. Over two thousand (2000) government officials and business leaders are gathered in Abidjan for this year’s event, which is the first in-person event since 2019.