The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has given Ghana a rare good-news story in public finance.
Between January and September this year, MIIF, with the help of the Ghana Revenue Authority, collected GH¢7.82 billion in mineral royalties — a 106 per cent jump from the GH¢3.79 billion collected in the same period last year.
It is now on course to exceed its full-year target of about GH¢9 billion.
This is impressive and a vindication of bold policy reform.
For years, the Daily Graphic and many experts have argued that Ghana, as the owner of its mineral resources, is not getting a fair share of the mining boom.
The reason was simple and costly: we operated a flat five per cent royalty rate for large-scale gold miners, irrespective of whether gold was selling at US$1,200 or US$3,500 an ounce.
When prices soared, companies made windfall profits.
The state — the resource owner — earned the same percentage.
That has changed, and the results are now showing.
The GH¢7.82 billion performance is driven by two factors: record-high gold prices and, crucially, the new sliding-scale royalty mechanism introduced by the government through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the Chamber of Mines and MIIF.
Under this regulation, royalty rates now rise with mineral prices.
When gold prices are low, rates are lower to keep mines viable.
When prices spike, as they have in 2025-2026, the state takes a higher share.
This is what fairness looks like. This is how Botswana manages diamonds. This is how Chile manages copper. It is how serious resource owners behave.
The numbers tell the story. Large-scale gold mining, which remains the backbone of Ghana's mineral receipts, contributed GH¢7.66 billion in the first nine months — up 116 per cent from GH¢3.54 billion last year.
Mid-tier gold miners doubled their contribution from GH¢55.3 million to GH¢110.3 million.
Even sand and quarry royalties, often ignored, showed growth — sand up 41 per cent to GH¢550,871 and quarry up six per cent to GH¢11.35 million.
Only limestone dipped, from GH¢7.08 million to GH¢4.84 million, due to rainfall disruptions in the second quarter — a reminder that mining is still vulnerable to climate.
But to attribute this solely to high gold prices would be dishonest.
Production levels have remained resilient, and MIIF has enhanced monitoring.
For years, royalty under-reporting and inaccurate production declarations were an open secret.
Enhanced monitoring is plugging those leakages.
We must commend the Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Justina Nelson, and her team.
As she rightly said, MIIF's mandate goes beyond collecting royalties.
Under the MIIF Act, 2018 (Act 978), as amended, the Fund is to maximise dividend and royalty income and manage Ghana's mineral wealth beneficially, accountably and sustainably for present and future generations.
That includes strategic investments across the mining value chain — equities, fixed income and alternatives — to generate sustainable returns, not just to share cash.
This is where the real test lies.
Collecting GH¢9 billion is commendable.
What we do with it is existential.
Ghana has a tragic history of mining wealth not transforming mining communities or the national economy.
Tarkwa, Obuasi and Prestea produce billions in gold, yet remain with poor roads, polluted water, and under-equipped schools.
Mineral royalties have often been consumed, not invested. If MIIF's billions of cedis simply go into the Consolidated Fund to pay salaries and interest, we would have wasted another boom.
MIIF must therefore be held to its second mandate: investment.
The Fund should publicly outline how much of this windfall will be invested.
Ghana cannot continue exporting raw gold and lithium and importing finished products. MIIF's equity investments should target refineries, lithium processing plants, and jewellery manufacturing hubs.
The sliding scale also applies to critical minerals such as lithium — we must ensure that when lithium mining starts in earnest at Ewoyaa, the state captures fair value from day one.
We need a sovereign buffer for future generations.
Mineral wealth is finite. Ghana should build a Minerals Sovereign Wealth Fund similar to Botswana's Pula Fund or Norway's oil fund, where a defined percentage of royalty windfalls is saved and invested for long-term returns.
The current boom driven by gold prices above US$2,600 will not last forever.
When prices fall — and they will — we must have a cushion.
The lesson from MIIF's performance is profound: when Ghana reforms its laws to assert its ownership rights, it benefits. This model must be extended. What about petroleum royalties?
What about corporate income tax from mining windfalls?
Should we not also consider a windfall profit tax when gold prices exceed a certain threshold, as other mining nations do?
For now, let us acknowledge progress. GH¢7.82 billion in nine months is no mean feat.
It shows that with the right policy — linking state revenue to market realities — and with competent monitoring, Ghana can maximise its mineral wealth.
MIIF has shown that with effective reforms, monitoring and effective collaboration with State agencies, it can collect whatever is due to the country.
