Green minerals race: Ghana approves policy to reap maximum benefits from mining projects
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Green minerals race: Ghana approves policy to reap maximum benefits from mining projects
Subject: Geography
Section: Economic geography
Context:
- Ghana approved a new policy for the exploitation, management and regulation of lithium and other green minerals in the country, to keep pace with the rising global demand for minerals critical for transitioning to clean energy.
Details:
- The Ewoyaa lithium project is the first lithium-producing mine in Ghana being developed by Atlantic Lithium, a Sydney-based, Africa-focused lithium exploration and development company.
- Recently, Namibia and Zimbabwe banned the export of lithium ore.
- The Namibia government banned the bulk export of unprocessed minerals including lithium, graphite and cobalt, known in the industry as direct shipping ore (DSO).
- Zimbabwe prohibited export of raw lithium from its mines to stop losing billions of dollars in mineral proceeds to foreign companies.
Key features of the new policy framework:
- Maximum benefits to Ghana from its resources of ‘Green Minerals’.
- Maximum involvement of local people.
- The goal of the policy is to retain a significant proportion of the value chain of these future and other critical minerals in our country, as far as possible.
- It prohibits export of critical minerals including lithium, bauxite and iron, among others, in their raw state since this denies the country the opportunity to add real value to the economy.
Green Minerals:
- Often referred to as “minerals of the future”, green minerals are metals and other mineral resources that are needed to support the transition to clean energy technologies aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
- These include — bauxite, cobalt, copper, lithium, granite, manganese and nickel.
Demand of green minerals:
- According to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicles (EV) and battery storage account for about half of the mineral demand growth from clean energy technologies over the next two decades.
- Mineral demand for use in EVs and battery storage is expected to grow around 30 times in the period to 2040.
Challenges:
- China’s dominance over African mining and mineral extraction sectors.
- Weak domestic governance structures and policy impediments in African nations.