The Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bosu, has expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in Ghana’s mining license approval process.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Tuesday, February 18, he highlighted inconsistencies in the information provided by the Minerals Commission and questioned the manner in which mining licenses are being processed.

"I think that you are raising very fundamental questions, questions that CSOs have been concerned about for some time. There is a problem with the kind of information the minerals repository, the online database, is churning out. By law, they are required to provide a base map to indicate where mining is happening and details on when the mining licenses were approved."

However, he lamented that the available information is insufficient to determine key aspects of mining approvals.

"The way data is being entered suggests a backlog at the Minerals Commission. Either some approvals are being offloaded onto the system, or new approvals are still ongoing. This raises serious concerns, especially when the new government has promised to review existing licenses," he added.

His comment comes after the Minerals Commission updated its records, revealing that 318 mining-related licenses were to commence in the final week of former President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration—more than tripling the 102 initially reported.

This latest revision also indicates that a total of 328 mining-related licenses have been issued in 2025 so far. Of this number, 318 were granted between January 1 and January 6, just before President John Dramani Mahama was sworn into office.

• Read also: Akufo-Addo’s final week in office saw 102 mining licenses issued

This means the current administration has issued only 10 licenses, an increase from the single license initially commenced in JoyNews' earlier report.

Mr Bosu further described it as disturbing that numerous active mining licenses are set to commence this month despite the President’s commitment to reviewing all mining activities, adding that "one would have expected that this ‘business-as-usual’ approach of offloading concessions onto the system would have ceased by now."

He further emphasised the uncertainty regarding the locations of some mining activities and called for greater transparency in the mining licensing process, urging authorities to provide clear and comprehensive data to allow for proper scrutiny.