Central Regional House of Chiefs endorses lithium mining agreement

   Odeefo Amoakwa Buadu VIII, President       of the Central Regional House of Chiefs,      speaking to jounalists after the meeting

The Central Regional House of Chiefs (CRHC) has given a clean bill of health to the first lithium mining licence the government issued to Barari DV Ltd, a subsidiary of Atlantic Lithium. 

The traditional leaders claimed that even if the agreement was not flawless, the justification provided by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission convinced them that the arrangement would be extremely beneficial to the nation.

The official stance of the House was reached following a crucial discussion last Friday with George Mireku Duker, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, and a few representatives from the Minerals Commission and the Lands Ministry, according to CRHC President Odeefo Amoakwa Buadu VIII.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Prof. Richard Kwasi Amankwah, the Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, Benjamin Aryee, the Advisor on Mines to the Minister, and Martin Ayisi, the CEO of the Minerals Commission, were all part of the delegation.

The meeting, which lasted for more than four hours, saw Mr Duker make a presentation on the nitty-gritty of the lithium agreement with Barari DV.

The deputy minister's presentation included a number of topics, including the 10 percent royalty regime, the 13 percent free carried interest, the 35 percent corporation tax, the necessity for the business to file on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and the one percent development fund for the host towns.

The chiefs took turns to peruse the provisions of the lithium mining agreement and raised concerns, which were subsequently clarified by Mr Duker and the CEO of the Minerals Commission.

Declaration of support

Odeefo Buadu VIII informed the media shortly after the meeting that the CRHC had voted in favor of the deal because it considered the finding of lithium in the area to be a boon and believed that the resource needed to be used for the good of the people.

"We will not wait for lithium prices to drop to such an extent before deciding to approve mining for the metal.

We agreed that it should be mined for the benefit of our people because we need to make a decision on it quickly," he stated. 

                             Lithium 

The president of CRHC continued by saying that because lithium was a newly discovered mineral in the nation, there would be additional difficulties and that nothing could be perfected before it was mined.

Speaking about the demand for the agreement to be paused and renegotiated made by some think tanks, statesmen, religious leaders, and CEOs of civil society organizations, he said that position was not the best because there was evidence that the current lithium agreement was superior to existing mining licenses.

"Even if I might not be telling the truth if I say it's ideal, there's good enough reason to proceed with the agreement as it stands so we can benefit from its prospects.

Perfectionists often put things off, but we can't do that. Let's mine the lithium and, in the event that problems arise, work together to find solutions," the speaker stated.

He went on to say that while the CSOs and other opponents of the lithium agreement had different grounds for disapproving of the arrangement, the CRHC thought it was a good deal based on their interactions with the Minerals Commission and the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry.

"They have thoroughly explained everything to us, and while it might not be flawless, we still think it is a huge improvement over the mining agreements we currently have.

Thus, in order to ensure that lithium is mined as soon as possible and that our people may benefit from it, we as chiefs want to seize this chance now," he stated.

Odeefo Buadu VIII also said the CRHC was in favour of the lithium mining agreement because it had a huge potential to create jobs and boost the local economy.

Major hurdle cleared

Mr Duker described the decision of the CRHC to support the lithium agreement as a major move towards mining lithium in the country.

"The chiefs unanimously agreed that they are in support of the lithium agreement and, for that matter, the production of lithium. If our chiefs, who are the custodians of the land are saying yes, we welcome the agreement and want our people to have jobs, that is the biggest hurdle that has been cleared.

He further stated that the Lands Ministry and the Minerals Commission will enhance communication with other interested parties in the future, particularly the host communities, and ensure that they could see every facet of the transition.

In reference to the schedule for parliamentary ratification, he stated that the procedures would be simplified after the chiefs had given their approval.

Ms. Assan, for her part, encouraged the house to get more active in the nation's resource management and praised the CRHC for supporting the government in the case of the lithium mining agreement.

She also emphasized how important it was for the chiefs to make sure that their ecosystem was not destroyed by mineral extraction.

citation : S. A. A. & T. N