Ada Songor salt mining: Parliament ratifies lease agreements

Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee has endorsed the three leases granted Electrochem Ghana Limited to mine salt in the Ada Songor area.

According to the committee, the leases are valid and issued in consonance with Article 257(6) which stated that “every mineral in its natural state in, under or upon any land in Ghana, rivers, streams, water courses throughout Ghana…shall be vested in the President on behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana” and the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) as amended.”

“There is no legal basis to review and/or tinker with the three mining leases ratified by this (Parliament) on November 6, 2020,” the committee said in its recommendations.

Signed by the Chairman and MP for Akyem Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, the commit­tee entreated Electrochem to cede some portions of the mine to the locals for their livelihoods.

“Electrochem Ghana Limited should consider with the alloca­tions of some space to the local miners within the concession area in an arrangement that is mutually beneficial to the company and the indigenes to promote local participation in the salt mining undertaken. The local mining also permitted should be undertaken according to the environmental laws and processes as sanctioned by the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency,” the 13-page report laid in Parliament on Tuesday reads in part.

The Constitution of the committee was necessitated by a statement made on the floor of the House by the Member for Sege, Christian Corletey Otuteye, on October 9, 2023 for the House to intervene in the impasse which had ensued between the locals and staff of the Electrochem.

The impasse, the MP said had led to two deaths; a journalist and a local miner.

To this end, the committee said there should be a continu­ous stakeholder’s engagement, led by the National Commission for Civic Education, to persuade persons fighting the roll-out of a national resource under the mistaken belief that the indigenes owned the mineral with a call on political pundits to desist using the situation.

With regards to the economic viability of the concession to the local economy, the report estimat­ed that about 1,500 direct jobs were expected annually across the two harvest seasons as Electro­chem had invested in excess of US$88 million.

There should be a security engagement in communities for them to come to terms with the fact that it is in the best interest of Ghana and the local commu­nities to desist from any form of lawlessness to pave the way for any national undertaken for export benefits to function at full throttle, the report said.

“The indigenes should be edu­cated by their chiefs and stake­holders that Ghana has an interest in Electrochem and its salt mining business in Ada Songor and any acts of lawlessness against the company is a direct confrontation with law enforcement agencies in Ghana,” it said.

The committee further recom­mended that the police investigat­ed the death of Numo Korletey Agomedah who was allegedly killed at the height of the confu­sion over the concession.

All minor criminal complaints associate with the mining should be resolved between the com­plainants and the culprits to tone down tensions in the salt mining environment.

The report called on indigenes in the area to support the salt mining enterprise as it has the po­tential to surpass contributions of cocoa and gold with production expected to be scaled up from one million to eight million metric tonnes per annum at a projected price of US$400 per tonne.

 BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI

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