The Minerals Investment Income Fund (MIIF) will soon launch an initiative to support small-scale gold miners in the country.

Known as the Small Scale Mining Incubation Programme, this will be a significant investment that will enable many Ghanaians benefit from the mineral resources.

Chief Executive of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, told a gathering at this year’s Distinguished Speaker Series at the University of Mines and Technology in Tarkwa that the programme will soon be piloted in parts of the country.

“MIIF is about to pilot what has been described as the most revolutionary financing initiative for small-scale gold mining in Africa. This initiative termed the small-scale mining incubation programme shall provide support for licensed small-scale gold mining companies from $200,000 to $ 5 million per mine”, he disclosed.

The support is expected to cover the provision of working capital and capital for mining machinery, ensure corporate governance structures, institute a traceability and tracking mechanism for the gold produced, and provide a market for the gold produced through the MIIF Gold Trade desk.

The theme of this year’s Distinguished Speaker Series was “Mining as an asset class – the rubrics of using the stock market as a growth pole for wealth generation”.

MIIF invests $32.9m in lithium production

Mr. Koranteng also said the Fund is investing $32.9 million in lithium underpinned by the Government of Ghana’s critical minerals policy.

In line with this, the Fund has invested $5 million in the holding company, Atlantic Lithium while investing $27.9 million in Atlantic Lithium local assets.

The Barari BV for the prolific ewoyaa project will start production in 2025 and seven other tenements in the Central region.

The MIIF-UMaT Distinguished Speaker Series is a one-day annual event where industry engages academia to create a meeting of minds about improving the mining sub-sector.