Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has told Parliament that the lithium mining lease signed by the previous government is being reviewed due to a significant drop in global prices, raising concerns over the viability of the project.

Addressing Parliament on Thursday, July 17, the Minister explained that the lease was submitted in 2024 and reviewed by the Select Committee on Lands and Natural Resources, but a report was not written for the House to ratify before the House adjourned for the 2024 general elections.

He said, “The company has since the beginning of this year written to inform government of the change in circumstances, which is the collapse in the price of lithium.”

The Lands Minister noted that the original agreement, signed in October 2023, was based on a lithium price of about $3,000 per tonne, as stated in the company’s Bankable Feasibility Report. However, the global market has changed drastically.

“The battery metals market remains under pressure as falling prices and oversupply has seen the sharpest decline in prices. Major lithium producers have cut production, laid off workers and new projects have been put on hold due to the collapse of prices,” he said.

In response to the company’s request for revised lease terms, the Ministry informed Cabinet. “Cabinet has granted me the approval to present new terms to be considered in a new memo with revised proposal for the consideration of Cabinet and to Parliament thereafter to save the project,” he added.

In another update, the Minister briefed Parliament on the government’s new efforts to monitor all excavators and earth-moving machines to stop their use in illegal mining.

The Minister said the initiative is a multi-agency operation involving key institutions such as the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ministry of Transport, the Minerals Commission, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

“The Ghana Revenue Authority plays a pivotal role in this process. Customs officers at all designated ports of entry have been instructed only to allow clearance and gate out all earth-moving and mining equipment when an approved import permit is presented and endorsed by both the Ministry of Transport and the Commissioner General,” the Minister stated.

He added that a special clearance system is being built into the Integrated Customs Management System (ICOMS) to track these permits and ensure full accountability. Once cleared, the DVLA will assign a unique number plate to the equipment.

“The inscription on the number plate is green printed on a white background,” he said.

To track the movement of these machines, he explained, “Each registered equipment is fitted with a tamper-proof GPS tracker. This tamper-proof will make sure that anytime you tamper with it, it will go along in the operations room.”

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This real-time monitoring is managed by a central control room operated by the Minerals Commission. So far, 150 excavators have already been registered through the new tracking system.