News Guide Africa

Tag: Isaac Tandoh

  • Industry Leaders Demand Policy Overhaul to End Foreign Monopoly on Ghana’s Mineral Wealth

    Industry Leaders Demand Policy Overhaul to End Foreign Monopoly on Ghana’s Mineral Wealth

    Foreign mining conglomerates are facing unprecedented pressure in Ghana as top industry figures and state regulators demand a radical overhaul of the nation’s extractive sector, warning that decades of foreign control have drained the country of vital resource revenues.

    At the National Mining Dialogue in Accra, stakeholders warned that despite Ghana being one of Africa’s top gold producers, the vast majority of profits are shipped overseas through foreign equity, off-shore financing, and imported equipment.

    Delivering a sharp rebuke of the traditional mining framework, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, argued that national extraction records mean nothing if local communities remain impoverished while external firms extract raw wealth.

    “The large-scale mining sector has been largely foreign-led, and too much of the value has leaked out of the country through ownership structures, financing arrangements, imported inputs, offshore services, limited beneficiation, and weak local industrial linkages,” Gyamfi said. “Production without ownership is limited. Production without value addition is leakage. Production without community transformation is a broken social contract.”

     

    Gyamfi pointed to major mining hubs such as Obuasi, where generations of foreign-led extraction have left behind minimal infrastructure and limited economic opportunities for young residents. He called for a shift toward domestic mine financing, local refining, and mandated local shareholding to halt capital flight.

    “If we want a new story, we must own more, refine more, process more, fabricate more, and retain more,” Gyamfi added. “We must promote more indigenous ownership of mines. We must support Ghanaian capital to participate meaningfully in exploration, mine development, mining services, and value addition.”

     

    State regulators aligned with the critique, emphasizing that relying on foreign corporations for local jobs is an inadequate metric for true economic development.

    “Our people are working in the mines, agreed, but do they own the mines?” asked Isaac Tandoh, Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission. “The true wealth of a mining nation is not measured only by the minerals it exports. It is measured by the industries it builds, the businesses it grows, the technologies it develops, the skilled workforce it produces, and the opportunities it creates for future generations.”

     

    The push to dismantle external dominance comes as the government considers tighter domestic procurement mandates, expanded equity access for local investors, and strict value-addition requirements on exported gold.

     

  • Reject Foreign Labels: Africa Must Define Own ‘Critical Minerals’ – Minerals Commission CEO

    Reject Foreign Labels: Africa Must Define Own ‘Critical Minerals’ – Minerals Commission CEO

    In a move to reclaim the continent’s economic narrative, the CEO of the Minerals Commission, Mr. Isaac Tandoh, is calling for a radical shift in how Africa classifies and manages its vast natural wealth.

    Speaking on February 10, 2026, at the African Mining Indaba, Mr. Tandoh warned that adhering to mineral definitions imposed by the “Global North” risks reducing the continent to a mere “warehouse” for foreign energy transitions.

    A New Framework for Sovereignty

    During a roundtable discussion titled “Is the Term ‘Critical Minerals’ Right for Africa?” at the Ngorongoro Crater Stage, Tandoh argued that current global definitions prioritize foreign needs over African development.

    “Africa should define critical minerals in Africa’s own terms, anchored in our development objectives, our people’s needs, and our continent’s sustainable future,” he stressed.

    To bridge the gap between extraction and industrialization, the CEO proposed a specialized three-tier framework:

    Core Development Minerals: Resources essential for powering Africa’s own industrialization and electrification. These, he insisted, must be processed locally to create domestic jobs.

    Global Energy Transition Minerals: Resources in high demand globally. While these should be supplied responsibly, they must be leveraged to build regional processing capacity.

    Guardrail Minerals: Resources that carry high environmental or social risks, necessitating strict governance and total transparency.

    Moving Beyond the “Export Only” Model

    The CEO highlighted that as Africa urbanizes and pursues inclusive growth, its minerals should be viewed as the “bricks and mortar” of local factories and digital economies, rather than just raw inputs for foreign clean-energy tech.

    “If we simply adopt foreign definitions, we risk exporting raw ore while importing finished goods,” Tandoh warned.

    He further outlined three non-negotiable principles for the continent’s extractive sector:

    Governance: Transparent licensing and strict oversight.

    Value Addition: Moving from extraction to “beneficiation” (local refining and manufacturing).

    Adaptability: Building regional ecosystems for steel, batteries, and electronics.

    Call for a Pan-African Charter

    To formalize this shift, Mr. Tandoh called for the establishment of a Critical Minerals Charter. This charter would set continent-wide governance standards, beneficiation targets, and milestones for skills development. He urged that this be a collaborative effort involving governments, industry, and civil society.

    “Africa’s minerals are critical, but not because the world says so,” Tandoh concluded. “They are critical because they hold the key to our sovereignty, resilience, and prosperity.”