Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has indicated that the country will no longer treat mining lease renewals as a routine mechanism for companies to flip assets, as government adopts a stricter approach to the management of strategic mining concessions, including the Tarkwa Mine.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Dr Forson referenced a recent transaction involving Newmont, in which a renewed mining lease was reportedly sold for about US$1 billion shortly after its extension, an outcome he said undermines the original intent of lease renewals.

“We renewed it; the following month they sold it for a billion dollars and only paid capital gains after the state,” he said.

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Although he acknowledged that the state still received capital gains tax from the transaction, Dr Ato Forson stressed that such practices will not be accepted going forward.

“You can't just renew your lease and sell it the following month. The intention out there was for us to renew the lease for them to continue in business,” he added.

His comments come as government prepares to take a decision on the future of the Tarkwa Mine, one of Ghana’s most significant gold assets, whose lease is nearing expiration. The mine was originally state-owned before being leased to a foreign operator for a 30-year period.

Dr Forson said discussions are ongoing on whether the asset should revert to the State Mining Company or whether the current operator should be granted a renewal.

“There is a conversation around whether we revert it back to the State Mining Company or allow the company to extend the lease,” he said.

He continued, “As I said, we have up to April next year, almost one year. And our intention is to have that conversation to the end of the year. And so before 2026, we'll have some agreement.”

He further defended government’s recent reforms in the mining sector, including the sliding-scale royalty regime designed to capture more value during periods of high commodity prices.

“We introduced the sliding scale to be able to capture the economic rent,” he said.

He added that the policy was developed in consultation with industry stakeholders.



MA