The Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Africa) is raising fresh concerns about Ghana’s mineral policy, arguing that the country’s current approach—particularly in the ongoing lithium debate—remains overly fixated on royalty rates rather than long-term value creation.
The issue resurfaced after the parliamentary majority declared that the 10% royalty agreement signed by the Akufo-Addo administration with Barari DV Ghana Limited violated the Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2010, which pegs royalties at 5%. Government has since submitted a revised agreement reflecting the legally required 5%.
However, TWN-Africa argues that Ghana can extract greater economic value from its critical minerals by adopting a more strategic, regionally coordinated approach that draws lessons from successful global models.
Dr. Yao Graham, Coordinator of TWN-Africa, made the remarks on the sidelines of an international consultation on Energy Transition, Critical Minerals, and Structural Economic Transformation in Africa.
“The ultimate benefit from lithium is its use in producing commodities like batteries, which are central to renewable energy. In that process comes the question of creating new industries that process and add value. Royalties are really the bottom end of what you get from the raw mineral,” he said.
“There is a big discussion to be had about Ghana’s royalty regimes. But beyond that, the bigger question is lithium as an industrial input. What is Ghana’s plan—not only acting alone, but in concert with others such as Nigeria, which is also producing lithium? How do we optimize the possibilities of lithium? The focus on royalties, important as it is, is a very narrow discussion.”
Echoing the call for a more assertive African minerals strategy, Claude Kabemba, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Resource Watch, stressed that the continent must begin exerting greater influence over the prices of its natural resources.
“We have a lot of minerals but lack the tools to turn them into useful goods. In the short term, since we cannot yet add value ourselves, we must expand our capacity to negotiate contracts and maximize revenue. We hold significant power because the market is favourable. How do we negotiate? How do we become the ones who set the prices for these minerals so we can collect enough revenue to invest in other sectors?” he said.
TWN-Africa maintains that without a coherent industrialisation strategy—both nationally and regionally—royalty debates alone will not unlock the full economic potential of Ghana’s critical minerals sector.
