The former Chairman of Parliament’s Energy and Mines Committee, Kwabena Donkor, is calling for a major restructuring of Ghana’s mining sector that would increase state ownership of mineral assets while allowing private Ghanaian firms to handle actual mining operations.

He is proposing a revival of the State Gold Mining Corporation (SGMC) as a lean, state-owned asset-holding entity that would own mining concessions on behalf of the country but outsource operational activities to indigenous contractors.

According to him, Ghana has developed sufficient technical and managerial capacity to justify a shift in how it benefits from its mineral wealth, without necessarily returning to full state-run mining operations.

“State ownership, private operation” model

Dr. Donkor clarified that his proposal is not a call for nationalisation.

Instead, he is advocating a model in which the state retains ownership of mining assets while private Ghanaian companies carry out extraction, processing, and related operations.

He explained that this approach already mirrors existing practice in parts of the sector, where multinational companies hold ownership rights but rely heavily on subcontractors for actual mining activities.

“This is consistent with current practice. Gold Fields does the administration and the ownership. The actual mining operations are done by subcontractors.

The Ghanaian state can use that model,” he noted.

Under the proposed structure, the revived SGMC would focus on oversight, strategic planning, and safeguarding national interests, while maintaining a small, efficient workforce.

Ghana’s growing technical capacity

Dr. Donkor argued that Ghana’s mining industry has matured significantly, with local professionals now dominating key technical roles such as engineering, geology, metallurgy, and mining management.

He further noted that Ghana has become a net exporter of mining expertise, with professionals increasingly working in established mining jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada.

In his view, this growing capacity strengthens the case for Ghana to retain a larger share of value generated from its mineral resources.

“We are a net exporter of highly skilled human capital in the mining space,” he said.

Concern over value repatriation

A central argument in his proposal is that Ghana continues to lose significant revenue through foreign ownership structures in the mining sector, with substantial dividend outflows to external investors.

He cited major operations such as the Tarkwa Mine as examples where large financial returns are repatriated annually abroad, despite Ghanaian participation in operations.

According to him, the issue is no longer technical capability but ownership and value retention.

Lease renewals and resource control

Dr. Donkor also drew attention to upcoming lease expirations, noting that Ghana has an opportunity to reassess ownership arrangements when mining leases come up for renewal.

Using the Tarkwa Mine as an example, he argued that allowing a lease to expire without renewal would not amount to nationalisation but rather a legitimate exercise of the state’s constitutional role as custodian of natural resources.

“I’m not calling for nationalisation… Resource nationalism is not necessarily the same as nationalisation,” he explained.

Financing the model

On concerns about funding, he suggested that Ghanaian operators could access capital through commercial banks, development finance institutions, capital markets, and regional lenders, supported by state-backed guarantees and future gold revenues.

He believes such a structure would enable Ghana to strengthen local participation, retain more value from its resources, and still maintain operational efficiency through private-sector expertise.

 

Dr. Donkor maintains that Ghana’s mining sector has reached a stage where a new ownership framework is both feasible and necessary to maximise national benefit from its mineral wealth.