He said it was crucial for Ghana to have robust pol­icies to regulate the sector and upgrade the skills of its human resource to meet up with changing trends worldwide.

Mr Antwi was speaking in Accra last Tuesday during the two-day West African Mining, Oil and Gas Con­ference (WAIC) held on the theme “Building a Resilient and Sustainable Natural Resources Industry beyond Global Pandemic.”

He stressed that the coun­try’s geological potential needed to be well marketed to raise its flag high and make it competitive on the global market.

Mr Antwi also said com­munal issues must also be resolved through engage­ments by making members understand the dynamics of the industry, where it’s heading, the challenges, and its benefits so they could own the processes.

“Let’s ensure that the communities also enjoy because you are mining on their land. It’s not just about jobs creation so that these demonstrations and other things that are happening will end,” he added.

Mr Antwi said that was because issues such as those raised security concerns on the international market for which reason involving communities would allay fears.

“It is time for the country to move towards setting up those manufacturing compa­nies in the country to create more jobs, and then also en­hance our commercial skills, especially for our business.

“So we should move from just imports. These inputs from overseas somehow defeat the purpose. So the focus should be more on encouraging investors to come into the country and set up manufacturing com­panies,” he stated