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| Mining Communities Dev Fund Advocated |
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Mr. Eric K. Gyima, acting General Secretary of the union, made the proposal at the 82nd annual general meeting of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra, yesterday under the theme: Mining and sustainable Development: challenges and successes". Mr. Gyima said the fund, if established, should be managed by a team of think-¬tanks as a means of addressing the infrastructure deficits in the mining communities. He said, the emerging oil industry would add another dimension to the challenges confronting the extractive sector and it therefore, behoved the strategic partners in the mining sector to cooperate to ensure that the sector did not lose its relevance. The general secretary said the AGM has brought to the fore the urgent need for the chamber and the union to create a common platform for effective engagement on major strategic issues. This, he said, would help in shaping and influencing government policies affecting the mining sector of the economy as well as the mining communities. In his keynote address, Mr. Jurgen Eijgendaal, president of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, reiterated the chamber's appeal to the government to increase the quantum of royalties paid to mining communities from the current nine percent to 30 percent. "The royalties should then be tied to the provision of specific infrastructural projects that will stimulate development in that area," he said. The need for this, he said, had become even more relevant following government's recent increase of the royalty rate from three to five per cent. He said the policy shift would ensure that the royalties play a meaningful role in local development. He said the global economic down turn which began in 2008 and prevailed in 2009 affected the performance of the global mining industry as the prices of the bulk of metals witnessed significant depreciation. However, he said, the depreciation of the major international currencies, especially the US dollar, coupled with inflationary fears -in the face of the economic down turn, positioned gold as a preferred habitat for the majority of investors. He said kin circumstances; the price of gold had a strong showing in 2005 and averaged over 972 dollars per ounce. He said most mining companies and in an environment of heightened scrutiny most companies continued to contend with the rising costs of regulatory compliance and sustainable development. "In spite of the challenges, Ghana’s mining sector performed quite creditably in 2009" he added. He said the sub - sector contributed about GH c 319 million to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which translated into higher mineral royalty payments. |
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