We must be deliberate about creating our own major mining companies – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Friday, 3rd May 2024, cut the sod for the construction of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) Technical Training Centre on the campus of the George Grant University of Mines and Technology, in Tarkwa.

Scheduled to be completed in eight months, he said, the Centre will have a 500-seater auditorium/lecture hall, a library and offices to support the running of practical programmes in metal smithing, jewellery technology, and hallmarking of jewellery to international standards, whilst exploring artificial intelligence and smart systems in mineral value addition.

He further stated that the Training Centre would as a hub for excellence in mining-related education, research, and innovation, equipping our youth with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in this critical sector and underscoring government’s commitment to developing a robust and sustainable mining industry.

“We must be deliberate about creating our own major mining companies. It can not be that we proudly wear the crown as Africa’s number one gold producer, yet we are missing out on the ownership participation space and in value chain development,” the president wrote on his Facebook after the sod cutting ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony itself President Akufo-Addo said jewelry distribution was recognized as an important valued addition process to growth.

According to the President, “Through the construction of this centre, we expect a delivery that a new breed of jewellers will be trained here. They will be imbued with the requisite training to become very good jewellers who will also be trained in how to build businesses.

“And equally important, they will be given a skill that will turn Ghana into a jewellery bar for Africa. Any visitors to the country should demand Ghana’s gold jewelry the same way our kente is becoming an influential souvenir to every tourist.

“This building is to be completed within eight months and we will be here to commission it. I am confident that this technical center will not only benefit the students and faculty of this university but elsewhere to cultivate the advancement of the mining industry as a whole,” President Akufo-Addo said.