Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ken Ashigbey, says Ghana must resist the temptation to make long-term policy decisions based on a short-term surge in global gold prices.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, he warned against what he called an “Esau mentality,” in which immediate gains are prioritised at the expense of long-term benefits.
“You see, eating on a constant and continual basis is better than eating one large meal once,” Mr Ashigbey said.
According to him, the current gold price boom should be managed carefully so the benefits last beyond the present moment.
“This phenomenon is a short-term phenomenon. You don’t take decisions that are long-term in nature just based on the phenomenon,” he stated.
Mr Ashigbey said the goal should be to ride the current wave in a way that extends national gains while keeping the mining sector productive.
He stressed that the Chamber is not opposed to taxation and remains open to fair fiscal measures.
“We are all open to fair taxation. That is something that we are not arguing about,” he said.
He revealed that when government introduced proposals to adjust the royalty regime through a Legislative Instrument, the Chamber made a counter-offer aimed at balancing state revenue needs with industry sustainability.
The proposal, he explained, was to remove the Growth and Sustainability Levy and introduce a sliding royalty scale between four and eight per cent.
“We said let’s do a four, take GSL off, slide between four and eight per cent, and then add one per cent,” he noted.
That additional one per cent, he said, should be taken from net profit and channelled into a dedicated community development fund.
Mr Ashigbey argued that mining communities must see tangible benefits when gold prices are high.
“The people in these mining communities should be able to point to the fact that when prices hit the roof, we were able to do this project and do that project,” he said.
Under the proposal, when gold prices fall to around $1,900 per ounce, royalties would automatically adjust downward to 4%.
In his view, such a system allows benefits to be shared more equitably. “It’s not that you are only sliding up. You are sliding both up and down,” he explained.
He said this approach would keep operations viable while ensuring the state still earns more when margins are strong.
According to him, sustainable revenue depends not only on price but also on production. “When you compute royalties, it is the price times your volumes times the royalty,” he said.
If output expands while prices remain strong, he argued, the country stands to gain more over time.
Mr Ashigbey also called for stronger regulation of Ghana’s small-scale mining sector, noting that it now accounts for more than half of the output of large-scale mines.
He said bringing the sector fully into the tax and regulatory framework would widen the national revenue base.
“Bring them into the pool,” he said, adding that once the percentages are right, small-scale miners are willing to contribute.
He believes that approach would allow government to achieve its revenue objectives without placing excessive pressure on large-scale operators.
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