S.K. Boafo (4th left), some traditional leaders and some officials of Azumah Resources
Board Chairman of the Minerals Commission, S.K. Boafo, has given assurance that government would work to ensure that Azumah Resources overcomes all hurdles in order to start full-scale mining in the Upper West Region soon.
Mr S.K. Boafo made the comment during a tour of the company’s camp and exploration sites by the Board of the Minerals Commission in the Upper West Region.
He said the mission of the board was to support investors such as Azumah Resources, which was operating in the northern part of the country to thrive and create jobs for the youth in the area and spawn development in the local communities.
“Already there are discussions on going on the need to remove VAT on explorations activities to attract more investment in the mining sector,” Mr Boafo disclosed.
He gave assurance that the Commission would facilitate all regulatory requirements to enable the company come on stream as planned.
Managing Director of Azumah Resources, Stephen Stone, said his outfit had already invested at least $80 million in its prospecting and exploration activities in the Wa Enclave and would need a further $140 million of investment.
Mr. Stone informed the board that until recently it had been difficult to secure sufficient funding to complete the project.
Fortunately, in October 2017, a US investment fund – Ibaera Capital – agreed to invest an initial $13.5 million to restart the project.
He said Azumah and Ibaera are now working together to improve the economics of the project and advance it for construction in 2019.
He said that given the difficulties in securing sufficient financing for the project, the company would need the government’s help to reduce costs of construction by way of deferring VAT, import duties, withholding taxes, royalties for 5 years during the construction phase.
The discussions also focused on the operations of illegal miners on the company’s concession, which is disrupting the company’s current efforts at updating exploration data.
Azumah Resources is an Australian company that has been prospecting and exploring for gold in the Wa Enclave for the past 10 years, covering about 28,000km².
Its area spans Wa West District in the south-western areas of the region to Nandom District in the northern parts.
The company currently employs about 52 Ghanaians as permanent staff and about 100 contract staff.
When full-scale mining starts, the company expects to employ 300 Ghanaians, create 1,000 indirect jobs, and a further 1,200 employment opportunities for just the construction project.