The Minerals Commission has clarified that mining company, Koantwi Company Ltd only has the license to mine but is not permitted to undertake reconnaissance/prospecting as being speculated by MP for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the ban does not extend to mining or the actual extraction of minerals,” the Minerals Commission maintained in a statement issued on Monday.
According to the Minerals Commission, a reconnaissance, prospecting and/or exploration licence is fundamentally different from a mining lease saying “the ban issued in 2021 by the Minister was in respect of reconnaissance, prospecting and/exploration in Forest Reserves except in exceptional circumstances.”
This was in response to the lawmaker’s publication suggesting that the Minerals Commission was not candid when it said that the Minister has not issued a reconnaissance and/or prospecting licence to mining companies.
The Minerals Commission in an earlier statement had insisted that no mining company has been licensed to prospect for minerals in the country’s forest reserves.
But the Tamale North lawmaker in a recent Facebook post shared a letter discounting the claims of the Minerals Commission and suggested that a license had been issued to Koantwi Company Ltd to mine in the Bibiani forest.
The Minerals Commission in a reaction to the development noted: “In respect of Messrs. Koantwi Company Limited, a casual reading of the Forestry Commission’s letter posted by Hon. Suhuyini shows that it was an approval for the issuance of a Forest Entry Permit to the Company to MINE within a portion of the Forest Reserve, and not to undertake reconnaissance and/prospecting.”
The statement added: “In any case, Messrs. Koantwi Company Limited was granted its mining lease on 22nd September 2020, and ratified by Parliament on 22nd December, 2020, before Hon. Jinapor became Minister.”
