The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Tarkwa will soon operate its own mine to enhance its academic work to the benefit of the mining industry.

The Minerals Commission on Thursday, June 2, 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the university to the empower tertiary institution venture into the mining industry.

This was at the 12th edition of the West African Mining and Power Conference and Exhibition (WAMPOC/WAMPEX) 2016 held between 1 st and 3 rd June 2016 at the Accra International Conference Centre.

Outlining the modalities to JOY BUSINESS, the Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Tony Aubyn noted the agreement takes immediate effect.

“It has been ongoing for some time now and We only wanted to concretize it. This is an MoU to establish this kind of relationship. For UMaT we do not even have to look for a concession for them, they will do it themselves. This is because they have the Geodetic Engineers and Geologist and so they can better read the map to identify where exploration, mine planning and pit designing and all that could be done” he explained.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology, Professor J.S Kuma also explains the agreement is timely for both his institution and the mining industry.

“There needs to be a link between academia and industry as well as the policymakers. The Minerals Commission has a group of professionals who are dedicated to making sure that mining is conducted within the laws of the nation. And we saw a kind of gap between academia and the policymakers which we thought had to be bridged so that when they are making policies, they would be talking to academia for us to make inputs” he added.

Meanwhile, the theme for this year’s edition of the WAMPOC/WAMPEX is ‘Sustaining Mining and Power Investments: Meeting stakeholder expectations in a challenging global environment’.

The 3-day twin-event will be climaxed with the Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Chamber of Mines on Friday 3 June.

The joint biennial event has been organized by Events and Projects International in association with the Ghana Chamber of Mines and Exhibition Management Services Ltd in South Africa for over 20 years now.

Partners and sponsors of WAMPOC 2016 include: Ecobank, Newmont Africa, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Teledata ICT, Bidvest Protea Coin, Tata and Awake Water (Kasapreko).