Keith Muller
Ghana is expected to earn about $6.6 billion dollars from the mining of lithium in the central region, starting 2026.
Atlantic Lithium Limited, an Australian mining company in charge of the activity is expected to create between 1,000 to 2000 jobs when production starts.
Atlantic Lithium Limited CEO, Keith Muller, speaking during the West African Mining Conference expressed optimism about receiving permit and obtaining a mining license by the end of September 2023.
“I have been quite surprised about the level of engagements we have had with the Minerals Commission. We are very excited and we believe it will happen in the next couple of weeks, if not by the end of this month,” he said.
“The company will generate in excess of $6.6 billion. More than half of it will go to the benefit of Ghana in the form of taxes, royalties, company salaries, and contracts to the locals,” he stated.
Mr. Muller said Ghana will soon make a mark in the electric vehicle market.
“We have been operating in Ghana since 2016. Seven years ago, lithium was not a hot commodity as it is now. So we have been putting efforts into the country, we have invested almost $40 million till date. The main consumer of lithium is the electric vehicle market,” he explained.
Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Berenice Owen-Jones, said the conference sought to encourage mining companies to operate in a safe environment as well as address increasing jihadists’ violence.
“We have brought together a range of security analysts, the mining companies, governments and diplomats from around the world to analyse the security situation in the sub-region and also to look at how to mitigate that risk.”.
“This is the third edition of the West African Mining Conference and unfortunately we notice that every year that the security outlook becomes more complicated. So this reinforces the point that it is a very timely conference”, she pointed out.
Security analyst, Adib Saani, made an appeal for intensified efforts in ensuring security in the mining sector.
“Even though we benefit economically and financially from the mining sector, there are a lot of challenges in the mining sector that need to be addressed. Also, we have the issues of the possibility of explosives meant for the mining sector, diverted to other sources.
Ghana continues to be a logistics hub for terrorists and on several occasions, vehicles filled with explosive making materials that are suspected to be coming from the mining sector have been impounded in other countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali, only for investigations to reveal that they had come from Ghana”, he said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri