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The honorary vice president of the IMANI Africa think tank, Bright Simons, has argued that the money the government receives for the Agyapa Minerals royalty deal is not enough.
This, he said, is because the agreement contains all of the country’s most valuable resources for further prospecting, in addition to 100% of the gold productions.
Speaking on the news analysis show Newsfile Saturday, he said the valuation can be improved to better benefit the country.
“The $ 1 billion valuation of 75% of our royalties indefinitely on almost every major gold-producing asset we have.
“They have the optional mining licenses in the agreement that intends to give this structure the ability to obtain more. So giving it away on a $ 1 billion appraisal is problematic, very little and it’s possible they will, ”he told host Samson Ayenini.
Mr. Simons is a member of the 15 civil society organizations (CSOs) that have opposed the Agyapa Minerals royalty agreement.
He reiterated that the deal undermines the value of Ghana’s mining royalties by more than 65%.
According to him, the decision to deal with the public stock market rather than directly with the private one was the fundamental flaw of the deal.
“The worst thing you can do is lock your royalties in a transaction where you receive more or less all your money up front and there is no other tax margin.
“But that money you get is much less than the money you get if you had gone to any of the hundreds of gold transmission companies in the world,” he said.
This comes when the debate over whether the Agyapa Minerals royalty agreement will benefit the country or not.
Some economic experts and former Finance Minister Seth Terkper have opposed the deal.
Background
On August 14, parliament approved Agyapa Mineral Royalty Limited’s agreement with the government of Ghana despite the minority strike.
Two years ago, the house passed the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act of 2018, which establishes the Fund to manage Ghana’s equity interests in mining companies and receive royalties on behalf of the government.
The fund is supposed to manage and invest these royalties and share income to obtain higher returns for the benefit of the country.
