The Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was strategically established by the government to add value to the nation's raw bauxite resources in order to phase out the raw export of the natural resource in the short to medium term.
On Thursday, May 11, 2023, he made the claim while addressing attendees at a two-day forum amongst stakeholders in natural resources that had as its topic, "Harnessing our Natural Resources Responsibly for our Sustainable Collective Good," at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel.
The debate, which was hosted by the Graphic Communications Group Limited in collaboration with the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, sought to stimulate stakeholder talks about potential regulatory changes that may be made to stop the issue.
mining dialogue
President Akufo-Addo claims that Ghana has not always done well in "negotiations with the countries that exploit" her natural resources and that, among other things, the country has often been shortsighted in these negotiations, ultimately settling for less.
Even worse, he said that the nation has "failed to establish the necessary framework that will enable us to establish the highest ends of the value chains of the extractive industry until recently."
"At the expense of our villages, towns, cities, and nations, mining firms have made remarkable profits thanks to widespread tax and royalty exemptions, unacceptable work practices, and a lack of value addition. We must not make the same errors again.
While it is clear that mining firms must turn a profit, President Akufo-Addo emphasized that this shouldn't be done at the expense of the land and the people who produce these resources.
"Aside from giving thousands of young men and women jobs, the extractive industry has long been the major source of tax revenue for our nation. However, the fact is that we have not always gotten the most out of these resources because of our excessive reliance on raw product exports, he said.
Value augmentation
President Akufo-Addo stated that "there is no gain in saying that the real value of natural resources lies in their value addition" in order to achieve this.
He stressed that "the value of the global aluminum industry is estimated to be in excess of one hundred and eighty billion United States dollars annually," for instance, from bauxite mining through alumina storage and alumina manufacturing.
But just 7.6% of this market is made up of raw bauxite; 92.3% of it is made up of processed bauxite. This situation is comparable to those involving lithium, gold, iron ore, manganese, and cobalt. In fact, the value chain for the electric battery sector as a whole is expected to be made up of just around 10% of the lithium produced in African nations today.
"To ensure that we derive value from our natural resources, the government has prioritized local participation and content, as well as value addition in the sector," maximizing the advantages from these riches, which God has provided us, President Akufo-Addo said.
"We are trying to achieve value addition in our bauxite resources via refining, sheltering, and aluminum manufacturing, as well as the manufacture of other downstream aluminum products, under the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), founded in 2018.
Akufo-Addo added, "Implementation of the GIADEC's four-project agenda is expected to optimize production in the upstream industry and spare production and job creation in the downstream sector."
forecasted change
President Akufo-Addo added that "with an estimated bauxite resource base of over 900 million metric tons, this sector can serve as an anchor for the country's industrialization if we continue to pursue value-added policies" in order to emphasize the potential of GIADEC.
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