The controversy surrounding the Damang Gold Mine’s transition to Engineers and Planners (E&P) has laid bare a fundamental weakness in Ghana’s mining governance: no law sets a deadline for parliament to ratify mining leases.
Experts say neither the 1992 Constitution nor the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) specifies when lawmakers must approve mineral rights agreements, a gap that has allowed mining companies to operate for years without formal parliamentary oversight.
Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Co-Chair Dr. Steve Manteaw confirmed that this regulatory ambiguity has been the norm for decades. “Many large-scale mining companies in Ghana have historically operated for years before obtaining parliamentary ratification,” he said.
The situation came to a head after E&P took over the Damang concession from Gold Fields in April 2026 and began selling gold before parliament approved the arrangement. Policy analyst Bright Simons publicly challenged the legality of those sales, arguing that unratified concession gold legally belongs to the state.
Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has since confirmed government will submit the Damang lease to parliament alongside several other outstanding mining agreements. He cited powers under the Minerals Commission framework as the legal basis for allowing operations to continue during the ratification gap.
Dr. Manteaw pointed to a 2019 lawsuit that targeted dozens of mining companies operating without ratified leases. Parliament resolved that crisis by retroactively ratifying the agreements rather than halting operations, a precedent critics say rewards procedural non-compliance.
He recommended three reforms: a statutory deadline for parliamentary ratification under Act 703, elimination of bureaucratic delays that push companies to begin operations before approval, and compensation mechanisms for revenue losses caused by enforcement delays.
The Damang episode has reignited calls for Ghana to modernise its mineral governance architecture as the country deepens its push for indigenous control of strategic mining assets.
