Ghana appears to be missing out or delaying the full economic benefit of its bauxite endowment due to the politicization of the governance of the critical natural resource. This is the observation of the Country Manager of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Denis Gyeyir.
Beneath the soil of Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region is Ghana’s single biggest bauxite deposit, which can anchor the country’s dreams of industrialization, jobs, and real value addition.
However, the natural resource governance expert tells The High Street Journal that this golden opportunity risks being dimmed, not by geological constraints, but by the extremely partisan politics in the country.
The Country Manager of NRGI, Denis Gyeyir, reveals that independent studies done on the country’s bauxite endowment reveal that the mineral holds the brightest future for Ghana’s mineral value chain, in terms of value addition.
According to Gyeyir, bauxite stands head and shoulders above Ghana’s other minerals when it comes to value addition potential.
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He further reveals that other studies by both the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and civil society groups have consistently shown that bauxite processing into alumina and aluminium offers the most realistic and profitable pathway for local beneficiation, more so than other minerals like gold or manganese.
He says the profitability of processing bauxite locally is unmatched by any mineral and can unlock a significant economic impact in the country. Unfortunately, political interference is already eroding that promise.
“I don’t think we should, first of all, be doing politics with our strategic assets like bauxite. And for your information, bauxite is one of those minerals that is considered critical. I think Ghana has the brightest prospects for value addition. If Ghana has any mineral, in this country with the brightest prospect for value-addition, it would be bauxite,” he told The High Street Journal.
He added that, “We have done works that show that other value additions may not be as profitable. But we know that, to some extent, bauxite value addition might make sense because a lot of things have been done around it by GIADEC itself and by civil society organisations in the past.”
The Nyinahin lease has been plagued by political wrangling. From the last-minute award to Ibrahim Mahama’s Exton Cubic in 2016, which was canceled, to the Rocksure deal in 2024, which now remains in limbo.
For Denis Gyeyir, the concession has become a political football, passed from government to government like an unwanted inheritance.
He noted that the political interference around the mineral leases creates uncertainty that scares investors, disrupts planning, and stalls progress on ambitious value chains projects like refineries, smelters, and industrial parks.
To reap the full potential of the mineral’s value addition potential, he is calling on the government to treat strategic minerals as national assets, not party spoils.
“Nyinahin asset is the biggest among the other four concessions that we have in this country. And that is the one we play politics with, which for me is unfortunate. I think that we should leave politics out of corporate business,” he indicated.
For now, all eyes are on the government to ascertain how it will manage the Nyinahin Bauxite concession, which has become a subject of controversy for years.
