MINING COMPANIES ASSIST IN NATIONAL DEV (PAGE 20)

MINING companies contribute immensely to the development of the country by their very existence in the rural communities with the added benefits in the areas of information and communication technology (ICT), banking, supply chain, electricity, health, education, human resource development and technology transfer.
The value of what the mining industry generates for the state is not restricted to fiscal imports alone, but also the linkages between the mining industry and the economy through the supply of goods and services.
In her recent interaction with the press in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo Rgional capital, to launch the Ghana Chamber of Mines’s (GCM) 81st birthday, Ms Joyce R. Aryee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the chamber, stated that the mining industry paid GH¢179,978,383, representing more than 14 per cent of the total internal revenue collections and in addition, pay dividends and corporate taxes to the government.
She added that in 2006, mineral revenue accounted for $1,281,904,104 which rose to $1,793,343,307 in 2007 and shot up to $2,304,027,387 in 2008.
According to Ms Aryee, mineral royalty in 2006 stood at $38,457,123 and in 2007, the figure went up to $53,800,299 while in 2008 it soared to $68,358,428.
The CEO further stated that the mining industry returned a total of 63 per cent of mineral revenue to Ghana in 2007 out of which six per cent was paid to the government, both at the national and district levels in the form of royalties and taxes while 10 per cent was paid to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for electric power purchases with 13 per cent paid to Shell, Total and other fuel filling stations.
In addition to the cost of fuel, Ms Aryee said the mining companies paid about GH¢73 million, representing three per cent of mineral revenue as taxes, levies and duties on the product to the government as well as margins to oil marketing companies.
She said two per cent of mineral revenue was used to amortise loans offshore while 32 per cent of the revenue was spent on the importation of capital items.
Ms Aryee stated categorically that the GCM “does not condone illegal mining, its related activities and does not aid any persons related to this act”, stressing “illegal mining is wrong, dangerous and not helpful whatever form or for whatever reason”.
She, however, stated that the chamber supports and would continue to support licensed small-scale mining, adding that it recognised the achievements of licensed artisan small-scale mining.
“We are currently involved in a project to undertake a study into small-scale mining with the view of enhancing the understanding of the needs of the challenges of the small-scale miner”.
The chamber has made inputs into the regulations on the mining law for the standardisation of compensation processes in the mining areas, and that it is advocating for compensation to be in the form of cash and where possible, land in the case of farmers whose lands have been taken for mining activities.
The intangible benefits of mining, such as employment generation, long-term capital formation, social investments as well as skills transfer, complement the fiscal payments to state as a total package of benefits to the country.
Under the auspices of the chamber, the mining industry continues to be actively pursuing proactive strategic relationships with its major stakeholders with the purpose of creating the right basis for addressing key issues relating to the role of mining in national development.
The climax of activities to mark the 81st birthday of the GCM will be a general meeting on May 29, 2009 at the MPlaza Hotel in Accra on the theme: “Mining and sustainable development: Meeting inter-generational challenges”.