The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has refuted claims by the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that daughters of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo are involved in illegal mining or associated with a company engaged in such.
According to the Ministry, the said allegations were “palpably false and without merit” whatsoever.
A statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry in Accra yesterday said facts relating to the said company alleged to be associated with the President, Elite Minerals Company Limited was incorporated on July 25, 2008, and issued with a certificate to commence business on July 25, 2008.
It explained that the documents of incorporation submitted to the Minerals Commission, had none of the daughters of the President of the Republic either as a shareholder and/or a director of the company.
The statement said the Mining Lease held by Elite Minerals Company Limited in the Kwaebibirem Municipality dated back to the year 2012, and the lease did not fall in a Forest Reserve, as alleged.
Furthermore, the statement said on July 23, 2012, Med Mining Company Limited a.k.a (“Med Mining”) was granted a Mining Lease covering an area of 37.49sq.km at Dochi-Takyiman in the Kwaebibirem Municipality of the Eastern Region (and not the Kwaebibirem Forest) for a term of 10 years to expire on July 22, 2022.
Subsequent to that, Med Mining applied, in accordance with section 14 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), to assign its Mining Lease to Elite Minerals Company Limited.
The statement said on November 25, 2016, the then Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osah Mills, granted a prior approval, pursuant to section 14 of Act 703, for Med Mining to assign its Mining Lease to Elite Minerals Company Limited.
“The Dochi-Takyiman Mining Lease in the Kwaebibirem Municipality of the Eastern Region was, therefore, first granted to Med Mining in 2012 and, subsequently, assigned to Elite Minerals Company Limited in November 2016,” it said.
The statement explained that prior to the expiration of the Lease, Elite Minerals applied for a renewal, in accordance with section 44 of Act 703, and same was granted on March 22, 2024 for a further term of 12 years to expire on March 21, 2036.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Elite Minerals Company Limited’s Mining Lease dated March 22, 2024 is a renewal of an earlier mining lease dated July 23, 2012, and the said Lease does not fall in any Forest Reserve as alleged by Hon. Ablakwa,” it said.
Touching on the allegations that only 96 licences were issued between 1988 and 2016, was also, totally false.
It noted that the Mining Repository did not include licenses and/or leases that had been issued which had expired, including Med Mining’s License which expired, and was renewed in 2024.
“Indeed, similar false allegation was made by the Fourth Estate which was corrected by the Ministry in its Press Release of September 12, 2024. Again, the allegation by Hon. Ablakwa that Elite Minerals is seeking to acquire “exclusive concession of the Volta Region’s salt” and that the company “would have had gold, lithium and salt in the Volta Region,” is also, totally false.
The said allegation was borne out of ignorance of the laws governing minerals and mining in the country, stressing that “restricted mining lease” was not the same as an “exclusive concession.”
It explained that by section 111 of the Act 703, a restricted mining lease was “a lease to mine industrial minerals,” such as salt.
Accordingly, any application for a lease to mine salt would be an application for a “restricted mining lease,” but does not grant any exclusive right to the holder of the mineral right, it explained.
By Times Reporter
Source:
ghanaiantimes.com.gh
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