General Manager of the Ghana Manganese Company at Nsuta in the Western Region has disclosed that his outfit has put measures in place in order to stay in business for many years.
“We are looking at plant expansion and railway to facilitate the haulage of the products and do more exploration to produce more,” he added.
He, however, described 2018 as a difficult fiscal year owing to many outstanding activities, which must be carried out, adding, “We believe by 2019 business would pick up.”
“We have put in place interventions to strengthen our operations and returns,” he added.
This came to light when the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Kofi Nti, visited the mining company as part of a two-day tour of the operational sites of some mining companies in the Western Region.
The visit was to help Mr Nti acquaint himself with their operations vis-à-vis their tax compliance.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Suleman Koney, was also part of the team.
The Commissioner-General of GRA called on businesses to be transparent in their dealings with revenue collection agencies.
“All we want is transparency, clarity and truthfulness in the business relationship,” he said at the start of his two-day tour.
Mr Nti underscored the need to adopt best tax administration practices which are critical to economic growth.
He reminded the various companies that tax exemptions and other support services were not transferable.
Mr Nti announced that henceforth, items on the mining list would be subjected to review annually, saying “We want to see industries stay in business for a long period.”
The team’s first port of call was the Africa Mining Services, where Maureen Balibi-Boye, the Manager, complained about the delays in clearing goods at the ports, adding “these always come with additional cost.”
“The high cost of doing business is affecting our profit margin and taxes paid and so these issues should be addressed.”
At Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine, General Manager, Stephen Osei Bempah, mentioned that the company was undertaking aggressive exploration to expand the lifespan of the mine to 2030.
“So we have opted for contract mining to save cost and invest massively in exploration,” he added.
Commissioner-General and his team also visited the Karl Tyre at Tarkwa.
Mr Suleman Koney pointed out that there were ongoing high-level discussions to transform the mining sector.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi