GOLDFIELDS Ghana has presented a cheque for US$10.3m as dividend for the 2013 financial year. The amount is government's carried interest in the Tarkwa and Damang goldfields, which is operated by the mining company. The Executive Vice-President (EVP) and Head of West Africa of Goldfields, Mr Alfred Baku, said despite several challenges facing the mining sector, Goldfields continued to keep its commitment to government.

The question as to whether or not mining has been beneficial to host countries, will certainly linger on for a while. While civil society activists and anti-mining lobby groups argue that in spite of the rhetoric, mining companies leave host economies worse off, and communities dispossessed of traditional livelihoods, industry players want us to believe that mining is the best thing that ever happened to a nation.

The fortunes of mining companies world-wide are on the decline with some closing shop as a result of the collapse of gold prices, and in the face of increasing demands from host countries for higher rents from the industry to support their development efforts, Mr. Alfred Baku, Executive Vice President, of Goldfields West Africa has stated.

Italian oil giant, EN!, is set to become the first and the only upstream oil and gas company operating in Ghana's offshore exploration area to comply with the Fisheries Act of 2002 ( Act 625) by undertaking a Fisheries Impact Assessment (FIA) for its offshore project area.

Other companies at various stages of exploration and production, including Tullow, Kosmos and partners, have so far refused to comply with the requirement to undertake a fisheries specific impact of their activities. Information sourced from the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas suggests that Eni¬-Ghana Exploration and Production Limited is currently conducting a FIA as the company readies itself to develop its Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) blocks.

Anglogold Ashanti (AGA) says the retrenchment programme being undertaken at the Obuasi mine is a painful but a necessary measure to avoid liquidation and ensure the long term viability of the mine. “Given the state of the mine, the choice is to either endure short-term pain for long-term viability and profitability or we go for liquidation, which is not in the interest of our business and social partners and, for that matter, Ghana as a whole,” a senior Manager, Communication and Public Affairs at AGA, Mr. John Owusu, told the Daily Graphic in Accra.

As Tullow breaks ranks with big oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose its earnings and payments on country-by-country and project-by-project basis, Public Agenda's Editor, Dr Steve Manteaw, who played a crucial role in the advocacy for the passage of the EU transparency legislation, joins industry watchers in asking: What new grounds will the big players cite for their resistance? The week has seen a flurry of acknowledgment and commendations for Tullow Oil for its voluntary disclosure of all its earnings and material payments to its host governments in 22 countries in 2013.

Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, through its Ahafo and Akyem mining operations, paid a total of GHC 76,783,341 for the first quarter (January - March) of 2014 to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as tax. The tax payment is an increment of the GHC302,984,925 the leading gold mining company contributed to the government as tax, revenue in 2013.  

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has, on the recommendations of the Minerals Commission, has placed a three-month (90-day) moratorium on processing of new applications for reconnaissance and prospecting gold licenses with effect from Friday May 30.

Land has been acquired for the establishment of the first public assaying laboratory in Ghana to certify minerals for export and domestic use.

"The Commission will ensure the speedy development of the proposed assay laboratory at the airport area where land has already been acquired. This will help in ascertaining the quality and purity of gold exports from Ghana, thereby determining the actual value and the proceeds thereof that will come to government,"  the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Dr Toni Aubynn, revealed this when he unveiled the Commission's strategic plan that is anchored on its vision and mission for the . Improvement of the country's mining industry.

Large acres of land in the Ashanti and Central regions have been devastated by galamsey operators. The government may have succeeded in flushing out thousands of illegal small-scale miners, mostly foreigners, but a more daunting task of reclaiming the thousands of acres of degraded lands left behind by the 'galamsey' operators remains to be tackled.