Government has announced a US$1.5 billion investment programme to transform Ghana’s minerals sector from a predominantly raw-material export industry into an integrated industrial economy, with ambitious deadlines for local processing of gold, manganese, bauxite and lithium.
The initiative, outlined by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson during the presentation of the 2027 Budget Statement to Parliament on Thursday, November 12, 2026, seeks to retain more mineral value within the country through refining, manufacturing, technology transfer and the creation of skilled employment.
Dr Forson observed that Ghana had exported its mineral wealth for generations while much of the refining, metallurgy, manufacturing, technology and skilled employment associated with those resources took place outside the country.
Under the fourth pillar of the Government’s New Economy programme, US$1.5 billion will be invested in building an industrial mineral economy anchored on manganese, bauxite, lithium and gold.
Government has set a target of refining at least 70 per cent of artisanal and small-scale gold locally by December 2027.
The target is expected to increase to 100 per cent by December 2028, when exports of raw artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold will be prohibited.
For manganese and bauxite, Government intends to ensure that at least 50 per cent of production is processed locally by the end of 2028.
By the end of 2030, all manganese and bauxite are expected to be processed domestically, with raw exports of the two minerals prohibited.
The programme also envisages expanding bauxite production into alumina refining and aluminium smelting, while lithium development will progress from local refining into the production of battery-grade chemicals, components and eventually battery cells.
To support the industrialisation agenda, Government will establish a 24-hour critical-minerals processing enclave in the Western Region, supported by the energy infrastructure investments outlined under the preceding pillar of the budget.
A major component of the strategy is the construction, beginning in 2027, of the Western Corridor Railway from Takoradi through Nsuta and Awaso to Nyinahin.
The railway will transport manganese and bauxite from major mineral-producing areas to the proposed processing enclave, providing the logistics infrastructure required for large-scale domestic value addition.
Government also intends to develop Takoradi Port as a principal maritime gateway to the Sahel, while extending the railway northwards from Nyinahin to Hamile in the Upper West Region from 2030.
A modern inland port at Hamile is expected to serve Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and the wider Sahelian market.
The Finance Minister said the success of the minerals programme would not be measured merely by production volumes, but by the value retained in Ghana, export earnings per tonne, skilled jobs created, participation of Ghanaian suppliers, technology transferred and environmental performance.
The policy marks a significant shift in Ghana’s mineral development strategy, placing domestic industrial capacity and local participation at the centre of the country’s resource ambitions.
Its success, however, will depend on reliable electricity, adequate financing, infrastructure delivery, environmental safeguards and the capacity of local industries to compete in international mineral processing markets.
By: Christian Kpesese
