Government plans to shorten mining licence durations and mandate direct revenue-sharing with local communities in its most sweeping mining law reforms in nearly two decades, details of which were announced by the Lands Minister on Wednesday.
The planned overhaul reflects a broader trend across West Africa, where governments are rewriting mining codes to capture more value from rising commodity prices.
Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah said the changes, which include scrapping automatic renewal of some licences, will apply only to future contracts, a departure from the stance in Mali and Burkina Faso, where military-led governments have applied reforms retroactively.
“In Ghana, we don’t do retrospective laws,” Buah said at a presentation in the capital, Accra. “Existing agreements are sanctified and will be respected.”
He added that the overhaul of the Minerals and Mining Act and mining policy was 85% complete following extensive stakeholder consultations.
