Chamber of Mines mounts defence for Gold Fields' application to extend Tarkwa mining lease

The Ghana Chamber of Mines has mounted a defence for Gold Fields’ application to extend its Tarkwa mining lease, warning that any abrupt shift away from the country’s private investment-led mining model could undermine investor confidence, government revenues, and long-term sector stability.

At a press briefing on Thursday [May 14, 2026], the Ghana Chamber of Mines challenged calls by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) for the government to reject the proposed lease extension when the current concession expires in 2027.

The dispute has rapidly evolved beyond a single mining lease into a broader debate about resource nationalism, indigenous participation, and the future structure of the country’s gold industry at a time of historically high bullion prices.

Central to the Chamber’s argument was the fiscal importance of the Tarkwa mining enclave, which it described as one of the country’s largest sources of public revenue.

Read also: Why IEA is urging gov't to reject Gold Fields lease extension for Tarkwa mine

Speaking at the Thursday afternoon briefing, the Chief Executive of the Chamber of Mines, Kenneth Ashigbey said Gold Fields, Ghana Manganese Company and AngloGold Ashanti’s Iduapriem mine together paid roughly GH¢5.1bn in taxes in 2024 alone.

According to him, the amount accounted for approximately 7.3 per cent of the Ghana Revenue Authority’s total direct domestic tax collections for the year.

“Few geographical locations contribute as significantly to national revenue mobilisation as Tarkwa,” Mr Ashigbey said.

Clash over ownership

The Chamber’s intervention followed remarks by former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo on behalf of the IEA, who on Wednesday urged the government not to renew Gold Fields’ lease and instead pursue greater Ghanaian ownership of strategic mining assets.

Speaking at a separate briefing organised by the IEA, Ms Akuffo argued that Ghana now possesses both the technical expertise and indigenous mining firms capable of independently managing large-scale concessions.

She cited companies including Engineers and Planners, Heath Goldfields Limited and Rocksure International Limited as examples of local firms already carrying out substantial mining operations on behalf of multinational operators.

“We have trained very well-equipped people in this country who can manage indigenous mining concessions, not only Tarkwa but every mine in this country,” she said.

The comments reflect a growing strand of policy thinking in Ghana that argues the country should retain greater ownership and control over its mineral wealth, particularly at a time when soaring gold prices are generating exceptional profits for producers.

But the Chamber of Mines is rejecting suggestions that Ghana should move away from private-sector-led mining, arguing that the country’s own history demonstrated the risks of state-dominated operations.

According to Mr Ashigbey, Tarkwa previously operated under the former State Gold Mining Corporation during the post-independence period of nationalisation, an era he said was marked by operational inefficiency, underinvestment, and declining output.

The deterioration of the mining sector during that period, he argued, contributed to Ghana’s wider economic crisis and eventual recourse to an International Monetary Fund-supported structural adjustment programme in 1983.

“The facts do not support the IEA’s assertion that if Ghana’s gold resources are in state hands, we will not go to the IMF,” he said.

“If that were true, countries without natural resources like Singapore would perpetually be poor. What keeps countries away from the IMF is prudent management of resources and productive partnerships between the state and private capital.”

Revenue versus competitiveness 

The Chamber also pushed back against claims that multinational miners disproportionately benefit from the country’s mineral wealth at the expense of the state.

Mr Ashigbey said Ghana’s current fiscal framework already allows the government to capture more than 60 per cent of mining rents through royalties, corporate taxes, carried interest arrangements, withholding taxes, and various levies.

According to him, the country’s royalty structure is among the most aggressive globally, particularly with gold prices now trading above $4,600 an ounce.

The Chamber credited the sector reforms introduced during the 1980s with restoring investor confidence and reviving Ghana’s mining industry after years of decline.

Mr Ashigbey said investment by companies such as Gold Fields in exploration, mine rehabilitation and operational modernisation had helped increase large-scale gold production from roughly 216,000 ounces in 1983 to nearly 3mn ounces in 2025, cementing Ghana’s position as Africa’s leading gold producer.

Mining communities under pressure

Despite defending the role of multinational mining companies, the Chamber acknowledged longstanding concerns about underdevelopment in many mining communities, including Tarkwa itself.

Mr Ashigbey argued that the central problem lies less in mining company payments and more in the way mineral revenues are distributed after collection, with most funds flowing to central government while host communities receive relatively small allocations.

He said the Chamber had consistently advocated reforms that would allocate at least 30 per cent of mineral royalties directly to mining communities, alongside the creation of a framework similar to Ghana’s petroleum revenue management system.

“We believe Ghana needs a framework similar to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act for the mining sector,” he said.

The Chamber also highlighted social investments undertaken through the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation, which it said has invested more than US$100mn in education, healthcare, roads, agriculture, water and sanitation projects since 2002.

Projects cited included the Tarkwa-Damang road, community bypass roads and the redevelopment of the Apinto Government Hospital into a modern medical facility valued at about $16.4mn.

For the Chamber, the broader issue is whether Ghana can increase indigenous participation in mining without undermining the investment framework that has underpinned the sector’s growth over the past four decades.

The debate over Tarkwa may ultimately become a test case for how Ghana balances economic nationalism against the need to preserve investor confidence in one of its most important export industries.