The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has employed the Speaker Series as a panacea to deepen the conversation on effective management of the country’s resources especially minerals

The Speaker Series is the highlight of the year for the fund, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng.

He said the program forms part of the real engagement between industry and academia, an all-important prescription needed to create a value-laden mining industry.

“The MIIF- UMaT Distinguished Speaker Series is a scholarly engagement of mining industry players by an accomplished academic or professional on critical themes that are intended to optimize or optimally increase Ghana’s benefits from mining. It is what we refer to as a thought-leadership approach to prescribing solutions for the many challenges we see in mining in Ghana” he stressed.

According to the CEO, the engagements are also one of the many ways MIIF and its stakeholders add value to the development of the sector.

The theme for this year’s distinguished speaker series is “Mining as an asset class – the rubrics of using the stock market as a growth pole for wealth generation”

He said the exercise, cogent and comprehensive, speaks to the vision of MIIF to invest in value from exploration, mining, and value addition, through leveraging the capital markets to support the sector, localize value, and create wealth for all Ghanaians.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe with this backdrop, it is important to rehash what MIIF is and the role we play. The Minerals Income Investment Fund was set up by statute (Act 978) in 2018 with a three-pronged mandate.”

Among these, he said, the fund receives mineral royalties on behalf of the government, manages the equity interest of the state in all large-scale mines in which the state has a carried interest, invests the royalties on behalf of the people in a transparent, beneficial, accountable, and sustainable way.

An added charge to the mandate, he underscored is also to reduce government exposures to budgetary shortfalls due to volatility in commodity prices on the world market”

Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng explained that MIIF’s mandate is underpinned by the vision of President Nana Akufo-Addo to make mining the first pillar of the Ghanaian economy by investing in value addition for every mineral, increase Ghanaian equity in the mining majors and support the mining value chain towards an extensive localization of value which will create Ghanaian mining champions.

“I believe we are on an upward trajectory in line with this vision, but a lot more needs to be done. In line with our mandate, MIIF has concluded a $40 Million investment in Asante Gold Corporation, a gold exploration and production company trading on the Canadian, Frankfurt, and Ghana stock exchanges”

“We have concluded a twenty-five million Ghana cedi (25m) investment in the Injaro Venture Capital Trust Fund (a Private Equity fund ) as a conduit to support the funding of mining support services in line with the government of Ghana’s local content policy.

The Fund is investing $32.9 Million in lithium, underpinned by the Government of Ghana’s critical minerals policy. In line with this, the Fund has invested US$ 5 Million in the holding company Atlantic Lithium while investing $27.9 Million in Atlantic Lithium’s local assets with Barari BV for the prolific Ewoyaa project which will start production in 2025 and 7 other tenements in the Central Region.

The investment in the Atlantic Global Company has seen MIIF become the fourth largest shareholder in Atlantic Lithium worldwide.

Ghana has closed a three hundred million (GHS300m) investment in the Ada Songhor salt project to develop a world-class industrial salt enclave which will eventually include a salt refinery. The Songhor project which has been on the books since the 1970s is managed under a 15-year lease by Electrochem. This project when executed, will make the Ada Songhor Salt project, the largest Salt-producing area in sub-Saharan Africa.

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 program, shall provide support for licensed small-scale gold mining companies from US$200,000 to US$ 5 Million per mine. This support will be four-pronged – on the back of a detailed resource estimate. It will 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.

MIIF is also developing a Physical Gold-Linked Exchange Traded Fund (MIIF Gold ETF), supported by sustainably mined gold from the Small-Scale Mining Incubation Program. The MIIF Gold ETF will be structured with gold as the principal underlying asset, for which the security will track the price of gold. This will be the second gold-backed ETF on the Ghana stock exchange after the South African GLD. We plan to list by September 2024.

“The objective of MIIF is to create sustainable generational wealth for Ghanaians. Our role therefore at MIIF, is not only in funding or taking equity positions in mines. Towards the vision of creating a fully-fledged mining industry and for mining to be a first pillar of the economy, our investment covers every single facet of the mining value delivery chain. This includes investing in capacity building and research and development. In this vein, I am happy to announce four major investments in this regard.”

“The MIIF Technical Building which will include a jewelry-making training center. We will cut the sod in 2 months here at UMAT with expected completion of this important technical facility in 14 months.”

The MIIF Scholarship program for Women – In a bid to bridge the gender gap in the mining sector, MIIF has established the MIIF Scholarship Scheme for women at UMAT. This starts in September this year and covers both undergraduate and post-graduates. This is however open to only women or girls from needy families in the mining communities.

The Ghana National Mining Museum under collaboration with 20 mining companies and UMAT, MIIF is spearheading the development and construction of a mining museum here in Tarkwa.

The establishment of a Minerals Testing and Technology and Innovation Centre in partnership with one of the most recognized names on the continent.

In all these, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng confirmed discussions have already commenced with the plan to have it constructed and commissioned within the next 5 years.

“This will be the second of such advanced testing center in Africa and will serve the West Africa region.

On stocks, he said, Stock exchanges worldwide are the creators of wealth and the main access to long-term capital. For the mining sector in Ghana, without long-term capital, our dream to leverage the minerals for shared prosperity will continue to be a stuttering dream garnished with illegal mining activities.

For perspective, more mining companies are sourcing their mineral wealth in Ghana listed in Canada rather than Ghana.

The Toronto Stock Exchange out of over 3400 listings has 1500 mining companies. The market cap of the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2022, was about $4.3 trillion dollars with 40% of the world’s public mining companies listed there as at 2021.

Consequently, he said he is pleased that the distinguished speaker series for this year’s speaker, is no other person than the Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Ms. Abena Amoah, who is also one of the most distinguished investment gurus in Ghana.

“She will agree with me that this is our time as Ghanaians to leverage our mineral wealth…this is our real dance with destiny,” Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng concluded.

By: Zambaga Rufai Saminu | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana