GHANA has signalled that long-life gold mines may be best left with international operators, lifting Gold Fields’ hopes of renewing leases at its Tarkwa mine.
Since President John Mahama returned to power in early 2025, Africa’s top gold producer has replaced near-automatic renewals of foreign-held mining rights with case-by-case reviews. Six months ago Gold Fields was made to hand Damang, where it was only processing stockpiles, back to the state. The mine was then put out to a tender restricted to Ghanaian firms and won by a company owned by the president’s brother.
However, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, minister for lands and natural resources, told Bloomberg News in an interview that considerations at Tarkwa differed from those at Damang. “It’s not a policy of government to go and take a mine from any foreign companies,” he said.
Many local firms could not raise capital or carry the risk that large mines demand, he added, though Ghanaians would be given openings such as marginal fields.
Tarkwa, Gold Fields’ second-largest gold source, has a 20-year plan before the authorities and leases expiring in April. The Johannesburg-listed company has described the mine’s future as a material uncertainty, and chief executive Mike Fraser said in August it would take whatever steps were needed, including legal ones, to protect shareholders’ rights.
Parliament has recently ratified lease extensions for Australia’s Perseus Mining and China’s Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining.
Gold Fields is also in arbitration with Engineers and Planners, owned by Ibrahim Mahama, the president’s brother, which is claiming over $700m for alleged underpayment at Tarkwa and Damang. Gold Fields rejects the claims.
Buah expects parliament to pass revised mining legislation by year-end, shortening leases, widening government discretion over renewals and scrapping agreements that lock in fiscal terms.