- On Thursday, October 19, the African-focused lithium exploration and development business, which aims to produce Ghana’s first lithium mine, obtained a 15-year mining lease from the Ghanaian government after fulfilling all the prerequisites.
- Ghana’s agreement with Atlantic Lithium was signed with the nation’s best interests in mind, the Minerals Commission has emphasized.
- The African-focused lithium exploration and development company targeting to deliver Ghana’s first lithium mine, on Thursday (19 October) secured a 15- year mining lease from the government of Ghana after meeting all the necessary requirements.
- However, a few opponents, such as the Minority, have expressed doubts about the agreement and added that legislative approval is required. The former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, is the most recent to voice concerns with the agreement.
- According to her the lithium lease that the government recently signed is incomplete without ratification by parliament. In her legal view, this particular transaction ought to have been sent to Parliament for approval.
- “My legal view is that it is a transaction that requires ratification, it is not complete. This is a document, it is signed and sealed and delivered but it is a deal that has to be ratified by a named authority, that is the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana,” she said while speaking as a Distinguished Scholar of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra on Tuesday, November 28.
- She further indicated that despite comments that this particular agreement is favourable to the country, the contract is not different from the previous ‘Guggisberg-type’ of agreements which have not yielded any benefit to Ghanaians.
- “The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and the CEO of Minerals Commission have touted as favourable to Ghana, surpassing all those other Lithium leases around the world.