The Minerals Commission is optimistic gold production will see an increase this year due to some companies ramping up their operations in the country.
According to the commission, gold output went up by over 2 percent in the third quarter of 2016 showing an improvement on the previous year. Speaking to Citi Business News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Toni Aubynn was hopeful production for gold will go up due to new investment.
He stated that the companies have developed modalities to cushion them from shocks on the world market that negatively impact the price of the commodity. “Most of the mining companies have learnt to withstand the cost and price dynamics much better than before. So most now understand the cost of production,” he said.
He pointed out that the development has led to companies making huge investment ahead of the 2017 productiion year, which is good for Ghana’s economy. “ With expect 2017 to be a positive year. We expect that production will go up. I will not be able to tell you exactly how much but we expect production to go up slightly above 2016 figures,” he said.
Sounding more hopeful, Dr. Aubynn stated that companies such as Asanko Gold Mines, Goldfields and Gold Star Resources have all shown signs of increasing production through injection of new investment. “…You would have Asanko Gold now ramping up, fortunately Goldfields after its [preliminary] agreement with government has now secured 1.4 billion [dollars] resources to invest in the Damang project.
If they are able to go into actual production within the year then it means that production is likely to go up,” he said.
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