The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission Dr. Toni Aubynn has rejected claims that the government refused to give its full support to the partnership agreement between Randgold Resources Limited and AngloGold Ashanti to revive the Obuasi mine.
According to Dr. Tony Aubynn, government and the Minerals Commission are committed to supporting foreign investors who are ready to obey the rules of the country for win-win partnership, hence government’s initial support for the Randgold– AngloGold Ashanti deal.
His comments comes after the CEO of Randgold Resources Limited, Mark Bristow revealed that it abandoned its deal with AngloGold Ashanti in taking over the Obuasi Mine because the government of Ghana refused to give complete support to the deal. Mark Bristow who made the disclosure last week Tuesday alleged that the Government of Ghana showed no support even though the social risk at the Obuasi mine was enormous. But rebutting the assertions on Citi Business News, Dr. Toni Aubynn maintained that Ghana will not be pushed to accept any raw deal from investors.
“Even though Ghana is seeking investors as a developing country we have rules and regulations, we have our pride in the way we seek investors. We do not change the rules to satisfy anybody. So the fact that one would insist that we do things through individuals, and through powerful people, we will do it through institutions and follow the rules set out by our institutions, if that means lack of support by government I don’t think that is right,” he said.
He explained that Ghana’s laws on mineral deposits have gone through many reforms, resulting in a good legislative regime that currently provides the best for investors and Ghanaians. Pointing out efforts made by the government to attract investors in this direction, Dr. Aubynn stated that investors have been invited from all over the world to invest in Ghana’s mining sector due to benefit and peaceful relationship governments have had with mining giants. He observed that investors have always been satisfied with Ghana’s laws since it provides a fair deal for investors.
“We as country we invite investors to come into the country. We are still working on attracting investors. There have been significant investors in the mining sector in Ghana, including attempt by Randgold to be here,” he said.
Touching on the support given by government on the Randgold deal with AngloGold Ashanti, Dr. Aubynn stated that government and the Minerals Commission accorded the mining company the respect and support required to commence operations but to no avail.
“We respect Randgold as one of the leading African companies in the mining industry, Mr. Mike Bristow himself [we respect] as one of the quite successful CEOs. Let’s be very clear that nothing could be farther from the truth that government did not show interest or support, we threw out all the support available,” he reiterated.
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