The Minerals Commission says it rejected an application from High Street Ghana Limited for a mining license within the Kakum National Park.

According to the Commission, the application from the mining firm received no consideration and was subsequently removed from the online mining cadastre.

In a statement sighted by JoyNews, the Minerals Commission stressed that the application by High Street Ghana Limited will not be processed.

"The Commission wishes to inform the CSOs and the public that the application of High Street Mining Company Limited was rejected and therefore cannot be processed or considered whatsoever. Consequently, the Commission has deleted the application from the online mining cadastre."

"The Commission wishes to assure the public that no mineral right whether for prospecting or mining shall be considered or granted in the Kakum National Park."

It thus asked the public to disregard any contrary reports.

Background

On Friday, November 10, 2023, several civil society organizations (CSOs) in the country strongly opposed what they deemed as an attempt by mining firm High Street Ghana Limited to conduct mining activities in the Kakum National Park in the Central Region.

The CSOs highlighted that High Street Ghana Limited's application was one of 14 applications received by the Minerals Commission from various firms seeking approval to mine in forest reserves across the country.

During a stakeholder engagement on the new Regulation on Mining in Ghana’s Forest Reserves (LI 2462) 2022 on Thursday, November 9, Mustapha Seidu, the Director of Nature and Development Foundation, cautioned against the potential widespread destruction of the country's forests if the Legislative Instrument (LI 2462) is not revoked.

Mr Seidu disclosed, "As we speak, there are 14 more applications under different stages of consideration by the Minerals Commission, including an application by High Street Ghana Limited to mine in the Kakum National Park."

He further emphasised that the application was in the validation stage and, based on the provided concession map, would cover about 24% of the reserve.

Expressing concern about the potential consequences, Mr. Seidu urged stakeholders to address the issue promptly, stating, "If in less than one year of coming into force of LI 2462, we are seeing this massive legal destruction of our forest, we can imagine what will happen in the next five years or decade."