By: Fred Yaw
Sarpong- Daily Express
Mining
firms operating in the country repatriated total revenue of US$2.6 billion in
2015, according to the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr. Kwame
Addo-Kufuor.
Mr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, President of Ghana Chamber of Mines
According
to him, a total of US$2.1 billion out of the repatriated revenue was returned
through the commercial banks and the remainder via the central bank.
He
mentioned that the companies in the mining industry spent US$865 million on local
purchases, which represents 28 percent of their mineral revenue.
He
said this at the 88th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the chamber in Accra. The
event was under the theme “Sustaining Mining and Power Investments: Meeting
Stakeholder Expectation in a Challenging Global Environment.”
“It
is worth mentioning that expenditure on local purchases increase from 18
percent of mineral revenue in 2011 to 28 percent in 2015. This impressive
outturn underscores our member companies’ commitment to the laudable policy on
local content,” Mr. Addo-Kufuor stated.
Mr.
Addo-Kufuor said proceeds from the export of minerals reduced from US$3.94
billion in 2014 to US$3.39 billion in 2015. “The reduction in mineral revenue
was as a result of reduced production of gold and purchases of gold and in the
shipments of manganese,” he added.
He
said “while the latter recorded a five percent dip in total shipments, the
volume of gold exports also reduced by 10 percent. Similarly, purchases of
diamond by the Precious Minerals and Marketing Company (PMMC) decreased by 28
percent.”
The
President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines said revenue from gold fell to US$3.32
billion in 2015 from the US$3.84 billion which was recorded in 2014. He stated
that this was largely due to the fall in output of member companies and the
average realized gold price.
Meanwhile,
the chamber 2015 annual report revealed that total gold output dropped from 3.1
million ounces in 2014 to 2.8 million ounces in 2015 as a result of declines in
production at AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi, Golden Star Bogoso Prestea,
Abosso Goldfields, Golden Star Wassa,
Chirano, Newmont Ahafo and purchases
by ASAP VASA.
AngloGold
Ashanti Iduapriem, Gold Fields- Tarkwa, Newmont Akyem, Adamus, Perseus and PMMC
recorded growth in output, according to the report.
The
report noted that purchases of gold by PMMC from small- scale miners in 2015
inched upwards to more than 267,000oz from 265,000oz in 2014.
On
diamonds, the report said PMMC, the sole buyer from small- scale miners reported
a 28 percent decrease in its purchases, while total purchases and export of
diamond decreased from over 230,000 carats in 2014 to about 174,000 carats in
2015. The revenue was US$10.7 million and US$6.4 million respectively.
“Ghana
Manganese Company’s (GMC) export of manganese reduced from over 1.35 million
tons to 1.28 million tons in 2015. The decline in exports reflects the
inability of the company’s major client to lift manganese in 2014 and the early
part of 2015. Accordingly, GMC’s revenue declined from US$91.1 million to US$70.5
million over the period,” the Ghana Chamber of Mines 2015 annual report stated.
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