This is to enhance and strengthen technical cooperation in the fields of standardisation, metrology and conformity assessment.

The move is to make the country retain the several by-products of gold when it is refined, which hitherto are lost to the refining companies in South Africa and Europe.

The MoU also aims to improve the exchange of information and expertise between the two organisations for the promoting of standards in the mining industry, public and industrial welfare, health and safety.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr Sulemanu Koney, and the acting Director-General of the GSA, Prof. Alex Dodoo, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions.

Commenting on the agreement, Prof. Dodoo said the GSA was of the view that a well-controlled, regularised and standardised mining sector could lead to increased productivity and job creation.

Yield revenue

“So this MoU is to cement the relationship and to announce to the country that the GSA and Ghana Chamber of Mines are putting extremely high premium on the mining sector. We want the mining sector to yield revenue much more than it is doing and to be a sector which creates jobs and a sector which is world class,” he said.

Prof. Dodoo said the GSA stood ready to facilitate the work of the Chamber of Mines by providing the industry with the necessary standards in line with best global practices.

“The mining sector is big business. We know that business thrives in an atmosphere of trust, and the whole point of standardisation is to build trust. If you are buying precious minerals, especially gold, you want to ensure that you get your money’s worth,” he said.

Open for business

To the international community, this is going to serve notice that Ghana is opened for higher level of business in the gold industry. We are happy to say that we’ve already started the process of beginning to hallmark precious minerals so as you buy them, you know that these have been certified by GSA and that adds huge value,” Prof. Dodoo added.

For his part, Mr Koney said the Chamber of Mines was committed to creating value for the country and one of the areas to do that was to work with other partners to deepen the integration of the mining industry into the wider economy.

He said the more value the country was able to retain would depend on the linkage between the mining industry and the rest of the economy, adding that the many opportunities within the mining value chain could be harnessed only if the requisite standards were in place.

“To promote local content naturally, we want to ensure that the standards of the inputs which go into the mining industry are first class because we are talking about first-class industry. And we can think of no better ally than the Ghana Standards Authority because they are tasked by law to ensure standards of various activities within the country,” Mr Koney said.

Engender growth

Mr Koney said the mining industry should be able to engender growth within other sectors of the economy, especially manufacturing, but this could only be done if there were the requisite standards to feed into a world-class industry such as the mining industry.

Mr Koney expressed the hope that the journey would be mutually beneficial not just for the GSA or the Chamber of Mines but the whole economy, adding that the basic steps initiated would provide the fillip for the industries to actually veer into other economic opportunities within the wider sub-region.