West Africa mining and energy operators confer in Ghana

Energy and mining operators in the sub-region gathered here on Wednesday for the two-day 11th West African Mining and Power Conference.

One critical issue on the minds of many operators in the mining industry is the availability of power in Ghana for their operations, as the country's energy crisis is taking longer than expected to go away.

In his message, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Nii Osah Mills said the Ghana government was working hard to ensure that the energy challenge facing the country and especially industry became a thing of the past.

"In terms of power requirements, Ghana's recent capacity shortages exacerbated by low levels of water in our hydro dams and the West African Gas Pipeline Company's gas supply challenges have resulted in load management which has impacted on power supply to the mines," the minister observed.

"The completion of the country's third hydro-electric dam (Bui Dam), the Ghana National Gas Project utilizing gas from our oil fields and the West African Gas Pipeline will all add power to the country's energy mix which will improve both power availability and reliability, leading to stabilization of the cost of power," he assured the miners.

The president of Ghana Chamber of Mines, Kwame Addo-Kuffuor, said besides the fluctuating prices of gold on the world stage, energy supply shortages were significant challenges facing the industry in Ghana. Endit