Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency has issued environmental permits to Anglogold Ashanti, one of the leading gold miners across the globe, for the Obuasi gold mine, situated in the Ashanti Region of Ghana
The award of the permits follows the Parliamentary ratifications of the regulatory and fiscal agreements that cover the redevelopment of the Obuasi gold mine into a modern, productive mining operation.
The ratification of the development agreement and the tax concession agreement is an important step in progressing Obuasi’s redevelopment.
The total estimated value of the taxes and duties involved in the fiscal concessions is US$259,000,000, according to a report presented by the Joint Committee on Finance and Mines and Energy on the tax concession agreement between the government of Ghana and Anglogold Ashanti for the Obuasi mine development.
In February 2018, the board of directors of AngloGold Ashanti had approved spending of US$31mn for front-end engineering and other preparatory work for the mine’s redevelopment, which is continuing.
“Obuasi is a high-grade, long-life ore body that will provide production for at least two decades at a very competitive cost, which will benefit a truly diverse set of stakeholders,” according to Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, CEO of Ashanti.
About 2,000 to 2,500 people are expected to be employed directly at Obuasi during operations by Ashanti and its subcontractors with expected earnings of about US$371mn, representing about seven per cent of the total revenue pie over the life of the mine.
