The President of Ghana H.E. Akufo-Addo announced that by the end of 2020, Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) would decide to enter a joint venture partnership with investors for exploration of Ghana’s bauxite reserves.
During the 2020 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on 20th February’20, he delivered the above words and also said this is a part of the government’s strategy to augment the industrialization agenda of the country.
Akufo-Addo communicated “We have decided at long last to explore our bauxite, manganese and iron ore deposits which allow us to establish an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry and iron and steel industry. The Ghana Integrated Bauxite and Aluminum Development Corporation and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Corporation were established by law as the vehicles for this exploitation.”
“The process is underway for the selection this year, of joint venture partners for the development of the full value chain of these two multi-billion-dollar industries which will give a tremendous boost to Ghanaian industrialization,” he added.
The Ghana government expects that the partners would be supporting to raise the bar of bauxite production. The projection also includes that partners will be building refinery and smelter for the production of alumina and aluminium.
Ghana signed an MOU with China in 2017 for the development of a $10 billion bauxite venture that incorporates the building of alumina refineries and railway infrastructure.
The MOU also stated that China agreed to fund the project to exploit Ghana’s multi-million tonnes of bauxite deposits.
The MOU was signed though some environmental groups protested as a warning of the effects of bauxite mining in Ghana’s forest reserves.
In his justification, the President said: “the exploitation of the mineral will not harm the environment, and that it will be responsible in the process.”