Ghana’s quest to add value to its raw materials is about to yield more good results as president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced the establishment of a bauxite refinery in the country.
This follows an agreement entered into between the state through GIADEC and two private entities to develop bauxite mines and aluminum refinery at Nyinahin Mpasaaso.
The planned refinery, president Akufo-Addo said, will refine bauxite mined in the country, bringing to an end decades of exporting raw mineral from the country.
The produce from the refinery is expected to feed the VALCO smelter and the downstream aluminum industry, the impact of which the president said will be dramatic.
“We have finally coming to the end of decades of exporting raw bauxite from the country. We shall now refine bauxite mined in Ghana to produce alumina that will feed the VALCO smelter and the downstream aluminum Industry which is going to have a dramatic impact on Ghanaian industrialization,” he stated in his address at the 67th Independence Day Parade.
He hopes for the development of more bauxite mines and refineries in the near future to deliver well-paying jobs to Ghanaians.
These projects together with initiatives, the president is optimistic, will put the country on a full blown economic breakthrough.
“I am optimistic that together with all the initiatives of this government, we are on the verge of a breakthrough in our economic fortune”.
He, however, warned against illegal mining activities, which jeopardize the safety of the environment and the people within.
He said while the country must exploit its natural resources for its development, such exploitations must not lead to the destruction of the environment.
