Recognizing the need for a comprehensive development policy framework in the mining sector, a new local content law is currently being worked on to complement the existing legislation.
This is under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural resources, Minerals Commission, the Ghana Chamber of Mines and various key stakeholders in the mining industry.
According to the Ministry, the review of the existing local content law has become imperative in the sense that even though the current Minerals and Mining Regulations, 2012 (Legislative Instrument 2173) specify certain aspects of local content, including local procurement of mining inputs and local employment planning, the regime fall short of specified levels of local equity participation among others.
Importantly, the Minerals Commission has indicated that the review of the regulation will deepen local employment opportunities; deepen in-country spending and procurement of local goods and services; develop technology; improve on skills transfer as well as value addition and local participation through equity and management.
While stakeholders assert that the implementation of the existing local content provisions in the mining sector have yielded some significant results, they realize that a lot more initiatives need to done.
Currently, the new regulatory framework is at the Attorney-General’s Office waiting for some specific legal inputs to be incorporated. It will be sent to parliament for ratification and approval after industry players have in similar manner made key inputs into the legislation.
Already, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and key players in the mining industry have met with the leadership of parliament to discuss the ways and mechanisms to be employed in order to fast track the process when it is brought to parliament.
Speaking during a local content workshop organized by the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Benito Owusu-Bio, noted that local content and value addition have become an integral part of the strategies countries have adopted to increase the benefits from resource extractions aimed at stimulating growth in the industry.
“Government recognizes that for the mining sector to improve its contribution to broad-based development, it must be integrated into the national and regional economic fabric through linkages as stipulated in the African Mining Legislation”, he added.
It is estimated that the mining sector generates a job multiplier effect of 15, which implies that for every person employed at a mine, 15 additional jobs are created in the non-mineral economy indirectly.