(From left) Sulemanu Koney, Professor Richard K. Amankwa, and Sulley Amin Abubakar with the signed documents
The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and Zaacoal Company Limited have entered into a Joint Venture (JV) to produce activated carbon for the Ghanaian mining industry.
The agreement, signed at the offices of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in Accra, would see Zaacoal Limited producing the first activated carbon in large quantities locally, using a technology designed and developed by UMaT.
UMaT Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard K. Amankwa, said the partnership highlights the position of UMaT in working with industry and the government to advance the development of the country’s mining sector.
He said the agreement would ensure that the activated carbon that would be produced by Zaacoal Limited is of the best quality.
“Going from the lab to commercial space is great and we are happy about it. This would help save the country millions of dollars in imported activated carbon and increase national value addition,” he added.
CEO of Zaacoal Limited, Sulley Amin Abubakar, said the two parties have had series of engagements and have come to an agreement which would be of immense benefit to the local mining industry.
He said Zaacoal Limited through the partnership is going to generate about 15 tonnes of activated carbon per hour to feed into the operations of the mining companies.
He praised the CEO of the Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, for facilitating the partnership, indicating that his efforts in seeing the production of activated carbon in the country would go a long way to benefit other industries that use the product.
Project Lead, Prof. William Kwame Buah, UMaT said although the country has the raw materials for the production of carbonised materials, it lacked the technology to activate it.
“From our research, we have established that coconut shells can be used for the production of activated carbons and Zaacoal Limited is already producing carbonised coconut shells for domestic use and for export, so what we are doing is to provide the technology we have developed to activate it,” he explained.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri