The Minerals Commission of Ghana has assured that it is open to suggestions on how to improve the Ewoyaa Lithium Mining lease granted to Atlantic Lithium and make it more profitable.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Martin Kwaku Ayisi, spoke to Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Monday and indicated that the lease is subject to ratification, which is yet to be done by Parliament. Therefore, any valuable advice or suggestions will be warmly considered.
Addressing an article co-authored by Kofi Ansah and Fui Tsikata on the lease, Mr. Ayisi mentioned that any recommendations are welcome.
Among the recommendations spelt out in the article, the authors suggested that the price or dividends to accrue from the lease be renegotiated and demanded clarity in the agreement regarding establishing a refinery.
“I agree with the recommendation, but we don’t have to put it in an agreement. We have stated that we will do a feasibility study, and when they bring the feasibility results, which will be completed by February at the latest, we have taken notice of the recommendations. We are hiring Chinese experts to do that, and the issues they raised are things we are aware of,” Mr. Ayisi said.
“The Piedmont agreement they [the authors of the article] made reference to has not been ratified yet,” the CEO added.
The mining lease provides exclusive rights to carry out lithium mining and commercial production activities for an initial 15-year period and is renewable in accordance with Ghanaian legislation. The issuance of the mining lease is subject to ratification by Ghana’s Parliament.
The Minerals Income Investment Fund of Ghana (MIIF) also announced plans to invest $27.9 million to acquire a 6% stake in Ewoyaa and an additional $5 million in Atlantic Lithium to help further the development of Ewoyaa, in part.