He said there should also be the removal of price stabilization margin on diesel supplied to the mines, promulgation of a Mineral Revenue Management Act and the formalization and supervision of the operations of illegal miners.

Mr Koney made the call during an interaction with the media on Ghana’s Mineral Sector. 

He said the mining sector contributes significantly to national development and it was worrying that mining communities continue to lag behind in social infrastructure.    He said for instance, a total of GHC160, 792,149 was ploughed back into mining districts between 2011 and 2015 but much has not been realized in terms of development.

 A situation, the CEO said, “Reflects poorly on the image of the mining industry” adding inefficient utilization of mineral revenue ploughed back to mining communities has not manifested in development.

Mr Koney said the irregular disbursement of royalties to district assemblies has impeded meaningful development in mining communities. He said the mining sector was the country’s leading source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as records show that inflow into the mining sector in 2015 was USD 965 million adding, cumulatively, the investment inflow into the mining sector from 2000 to 2015 stood above US$ 10 billion.

On social corporate investment, Mr Koney said members of the chamber have so far spent over GHC 17, 827, 897 in providing, water, clinics, schools, sanitary infrastructures, scholarship, agriculture and alternative livelihood projects.

He said for the industry, Corporate Social Investment has evolved to Community Sustainable Development Plans where mining companies collaborated with the communities to fund projects that yields both social and economic returns to the communities.

Mr Koney said activities that enhance capacity building for sustainable livelihoods, respect for cultural differences and building of skills of the community formed the core of social investment.

The CEO of the Chamber of Mines said high costs of inputs, illegal mining, abandoned pits and high fiscal burden were some of the challenges facing the sector.