Ghana gets public private partnerships right

Mining houses and governments can work together to improve their individual agendas and Ghana is one of the best case studies in Africa to prove this, according to Nii Osah Mills, Ghana minister of land and natural resources. “We had the same challenges as most other countries,” he told delegates at the recent Mining Indaba in Cape Town. “Mining houses were not always willing to pay their share of the costs when it came to power and other issues, while government was not necessarily providing these companies with the necessary environment where they could operate well.” But, he said, by sitting down and negotiating, the situation in the country today has changed significantly and there are firm partnerships in place between the government and the mining sector. “We re-negotiated deals, we listened to what they had to say and they listened to us. We came to agreements,” he said. “We sorted out our differences. So in cases where mining houses were simply not paying their dues we were firm, while they explained the necessity of having agile agreements that could adapt to market place changes. Both parties had to give in somewhat and everyone gained.” African governments need to understand the importance of mining and create an environment where mines can operate effectively. “We have to meet the energy demands of mining houses. Power delivery has to increase. We cannot expect to ask for more taxes when they are not adequately powered to perform their operations. At the same time mining houses cannot expect to not pay cost-related tariffs. Unless you are willing to pay for what you use governments can’t invest in better infrastructure.” He said in Ghana progress was being made by working together towards long-term goals where both government and mining houses would benefit. Kerfalla Yansane, minister of mines and geology in Guinea, said there were many lessons to be learnt from Ghana. “The message that there are no free lunches – not for government or for mining houses or for communities for that matter – is at the heart of it,” he said. INSERT There are no free lunches — neither for government nor for mining houses.