Minerals Commission opens new regional office in Kumasi

The Minerals Commission has opened a major regional office in Kumasi, bringing mining regulation closer to stakeholders who previously had to travel to Accra. The new facility will serve the Ashanti Region and other areas in Ghana’s middle belt, including Bono and Ahafo.

The seven-storey office block will house management, technical departments and client services. A separate two-storey laboratory will support mineral testing, sample preparation, analysis, quality assurance and regulatory monitoring. The complex also includes a museum and public education facility focused on Ghana’s mineral resources, mining history, geological features and responsible mining practices.

At the inauguration, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Yusif Sulemana said the commission’s services had remained centralised in Accra for more than 40 years. He said that arrangement had forced stakeholders across the country to travel long distances for regulatory services, prompting the government’s decentralisation effort.

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We are abolishing development agreements that shelve mining companies from certain taxes and levies. We are replacing recognisance and prospecting licenses with a single exploration license capped at five years.

Sulemana also said Cabinet had endorsed a comprehensive review of the Minerals and Mining Act 2006, Act 703. Proposed changes include cutting the maximum duration of mining leases from 30 years to 20 years, abolishing development agreements that exempt mining companies from some taxes and levies, and replacing reconnaissance and prospecting licences with a single exploration licence capped at five years.

In a speech read on his behalf, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said the commission’s expanding responsibilities and workforce had made a modern facility necessary. Chief Executive Isaac A. Tandoh said decentralising operations formed part of the commission’s approach to effective minerals governance.

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While we celebrate this achievement, we must recognise the duty of safeguarding this investment. I urge everyone to treat it with the utmost care, discipline and stewardship it deserves.