Ghana’s Matured in Mining-Goldfields has to Go and here’s what you didn’t know

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Mr. President, you know Ghana has the mining companies that can take over. You know, we have the capacity. You know, engineers and planners can take over. We don't want you to sit there, Mr. President, and be fearful of what Ghana will say when in fact what I'm saying is right because he's your brother. No, it is absolutely better for a Ghanaian company to run that mine than to continue giving it to foreigners. We do not get any real value from these foreignowned mining companies in Ghana.

[00:00:33]Apart from the few jobs they provide our people, which a Ghanaian company will do equally. The royalties they pay is something a Ghanaian company who takes over will also do. But the benefits of that will be enormous for us at the end of the day. Ladies and gentlemen, all that profit over $2 billion they make will no longer be leaving the country.

[00:00:57]The huge chunk of that money will be right here where it belongs.

[00:01:13]It's so interesting and funny how the world works sometimes as we look into this topic, especially just when South Africans are chasing Ghanaians and other African nationals out of their country.

[00:01:25]Ladies and gentlemen, this is more than a coincidence. This is Goldfields Ghana Limited in Ghana. This company has been mining Ghana's gold since 1993.

[00:01:36]They are in Taqua, by the way. They've been here for the last 33 years enjoying Ghana's gold and the peace of mind we grant them to do what they do. But their mining lease will expire next year, April 2027. And so their CEO is being proactive. He is in Ghana lobbying the government of Ghana and traditional leaders of the mining communities so he can get an extension of their mining lease for another 20 years. Ladies and gentlemen, after exhausting 33 years, but guess where this company actually originates from? Interesting. It comes from South Africa. South Africans are the majority shareholders of this company. They own 71.1% of the operations and 18.9 is owned by a Canadian company and government of Ghana only owns 10% and they have until next year April to get their lease extended.

[00:02:33]Ladies and gentlemen, to be honest, this company has prospered in Ghana. They have made so much money from our land.

[00:02:41]They are ranked number two on the list of most profitable companies in Ghana only behind MTN which is also from South Africa for many years for instance in one year they produce around 15 to 16 tons of gold one year I said they don't even do underground mining ladies and gentlemen they only dig pits they have the largest open pit in Taqua in all of Africa and they mine on one of the richest gold reefs in Ghana. They are financially good. Do you have any idea what the value of that 15 to 16 tons of gold they do in a year is in today's world price? Do you know how much you are looking at? At least two to2.3 billion US in one year. Ladies and gentlemen, they are simply cashing big time cashing in on our gold on behalf of South Africa. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not hating, but the kind of money our leaders go to the IMF and the World Bank to borrow is what they dig from right under our feet every single year. Let that sink in as a Ghanaian. And the painful part is the kind of agreement they initially signed with the government of Ghana in 1993 was under the Colonial Mining Act, which gave them at least 30 years to mine uninterrupted.

[00:04:06]But just last year, 2025, the government of Ghana announced plans to revise that term of lease from the 30 years to 15 years. And I'm not even sure if that amendment has been gazetted yet. But what we know now is their mining lease is expiring next year, April. Ladies and gentlemen, it's enough. It's enough. We have been foolish enough to let them take away our resources for that long.

[00:04:34]But moving forward, ladies and gentlemen, this should have never been allowed to happen in the first place.

[00:04:41]They are asking for additional 20-year extension. And I'm saying to the government of Ghana and their contract right there. They don't need their contract renewed. Ladies and gentlemen, we don't need to go beyond that. We appreciate their investment in Ghana and all that they have done so far in our mining industry. We appreciate all that.

[00:05:01]But when I look at the current state of Taqua with how they are lacking behind in development, ladies and gentlemen, there is no way we can even consider extending that lease. Ghanaians, you you have to get it straightforward.

[00:05:16]Ghana is of age. Ladies and gentlemen, Ghana is matured now. We have more than qualified Ghanaian own mining companies that can take over easily, easily. I said easily without needing one South African on site from the oil extraction to the processing of the ore to the gold production itself we can completely handle it ladies and gentlemen Mr. President you know Ghana has the mining companies that can take over you know we have the capacity you know engineers and planners can take over we don't want you to sit there Mr. president and be fearful of what Ghana will say when in fact what I'm saying is right because he's your brother. No, it is absolutely better for a Ghanaian company to run that mine than to continue giving it to foreigners who will do the same job as Ghanaians will and take all the proceeds to their country. You are a president for a time like this and you have to embrace it and do exactly what you need to do. Mr. President, I personally did not vote for you. I'll be honest with you, in last year's election, I didn't vote for you. I didn't believe in your second coming. I literally campaigned against you. I voted for Nanakamid instead. But I thought we needed a new kind of leadership for the recurring challenges our country had. The politics was too much and the work wasn't being done. That is why I did what I did. But I see what you are doing now, Mr. President. many of which I am totally in support of. Like for instance, the big push agenda. I see my own streets under construction. The gates are done and the road is being uh worked on right now. I like it. I like the gold board idea and the new expressway. I hope we complete it in time. We need to get into trains and all of that. But this is a special case. You have to make up your mind on what we are doing. We do not get any real value from these foreignowned mining companies in Ghana. Apart from the few jobs they provide our people, which a Ghanaian company will do equally, ladies and gentlemen, the royalties they pay is something a Ghanaian company who takes over will also do. But the benefits of that will be enormous for us at the end of the day. Ladies and gentlemen, all that profit over $2 billion they make will no longer be leaving the country. The huge chunk of that money will be right here where it belongs.

[00:07:52]This mentality is what we need to develop our country. These companies have served their purposes. These foreignowned companies, there was a time when Ghanaian-owned mining companies were non-existent or very few. But that time is no more. We have over the last 20 years seen Ghanaianowned mining companies that are running large scale mines just like the foreign companies do of which engineers and planners is chief amongst them. Capacity building and personnel recruitment are no more an issue of concern for any Ghanaianowned large-scale mining company. We therefore need to embrace the new Ghana we are building where where priority is given to the indigenous we the people. This is your destiny Mr. President. Ideally this should have been an excellent situation for the takeover of a state mine.

[00:08:48]Ideally this could have easily become Ghana's first national mining company.

[00:08:54]But I see that is not something you want to get into no matter how the situation beckons on you or what anybody says including myself. But at least giving it to Ghanaians will make more sense than the current arrangement. And you Mr. President, you know the new era of Ghanaian owned large scale companies are not an inferior replacement of the foreign. You know it because you have actually visited many of these sites.

[00:09:23]There is a lot of competent miners in Ghana today. There is nothing absolutely nothing that goes Ghana mines is doing that cannot be continued when we let them go. There's nothing. In fact engineers and planners have been working as the contractors the main contractors for Goldfields Ghana for many years now and still they are the ones mining for them. They know the ins and outs of that mining company. So it it's simply going to be a change of ownership. When they leave, the rest of the management and the operations will continue as though nothing happened. This has to be the new order. Mr. President, moving on. When any foreignowned mining company in Ghana's lease expires, we should first look for interested Ghanaian mining companies before we consider their renewals. Ghana has too many mining engineers with too much work experience to not own our own mines. After 33 years of taking from what we have, it's enough. You have to return home or look elsewhere.

[00:10:30]Your taqua branch of mine is now 25% of all your minds in the world by production capacity according to your own admission. Yeah. According to the CEO of of the mine, we have helped you enough. It's now time for us to help ourselves. Uh yeah, unlike us, we don't take to the streets and beat up foreigners. We dialogue. We use the rule of law. That is what separates men from boys. That's how we do it in Ghana. It's Ghana first in this matter. And I hope the president of Ghana makes the right decision. Thanks for watching till the end. I'm Cyrus and I'll see you in the next one. God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.

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