On Thursday, November 21, 2024, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a $450 million manganese refinery at Nsuta in the Western Region.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, made the announcement during a visit to Ghana Manganese Company Limited in Nsuta. He stated that, preparations for the launch of the project had progressed well.
He said that expectations were high from all the main players in the project and expressed optimism that the project will start before the end of the year. Mr. Jinapor congratulated the management and staff of the company for their hard work and commitment in the realization of the project, as the economic importance of the company will soon become evident for the economic growth of the country.
The construction of the refinery was a key part of President Akufo-Addo’s vision to add value to the country’s natural resources, Mr. Jinapor said.
Jinapor said that the country was on the point of “crossing the Rubicon” in the process of building a refinery, describing the project as an “important deal” and a “major development” that will mark a major change in the use of the country resources for export, towards the creation of added value.
The initiative, he said, would create job opportunities for the youth and increase revenue streams for the manganese industry and the state.
“I am pleased to announce that we are currently in the final stages of starting the construction of a refinery here in Nsuta. “This means that the products of this company, which have been shipped in their raw form for many years, now have added value in Ghana,” said Mr. Jinapor.
Again, a lot of work has been done on the matter, with teams from Ghana and China visiting the two countries, adding that “At this stage we have dealt with some problems and parliamentary approvals from the tax regime”, he said.
He said that meant centuries of exporting raw manganese would be a thing of the past.
“We are now adding value and maintaining the reasonable upper end of the value chain of the manganese industry here in Ghana. This will have positive implications in employment and will have many links in terms of downstream industry and other economic benefits” , he noted. Mr. Jurgen Eijgendaal, Managing Director of Ghana Manganese Company Limited, congratulated Mr. Jinapor for his great interest in the project.
He said that the company was ready to start construction work on the refinery and invest heavily in its modernization to ensure that the plant has enough natural resources for processing.