https://www.miningweekly.com

SRK Ghana expanding into other West African markets

JOHN KWOFIE
The Ghana office is a springboard to other countries in the region

JOHN KWOFIE The Ghana office is a springboard to other countries in the region

19th October 2018

By: Nadine James

Features Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

As the economic mood in the global mining industry improves, SRK Consulting’s Accra office, in Ghana, has been making inroads into new markets in Côte d’Ivoire and Togo, SRK Ghana country manager John Kwofie noted in a release last week.

He believes that there is potential for improved investor interest in Ghana as well, as the country’s new government takes a more proactive approach to attracting investment.

Kwofie commented that the new administration’s stated intention to make Ghana the most business-friendly country in Africa had seen focused efforts to reduce the cost of electricity, make tax rates more attractive and ease the process of registering a business.

“The plan is to create an environment in which businesses can flourish by reducing corporation tax and attracting new investors,” Kwofie said. “Household and corporate electricity tariffs have been decreasing, and the key economic indices are improving – so there is reason to be optimistic.”

As one of the leading members of the Economic Community of West African States, Ghana is positioning itself as a West African hub for sectors like aviation, but faces competition from the likes of Nigeria and Senegal.

Among government’s efforts to ignite economic activity is the One District, One Factory initiative launched in 2016, promising a factory in each of Ghana’s 216 districts. As SRK already services the industrial sector – especially in the areas of water management – the company will continue to explore this space.

The Ghana office is primarily focused on geotechnical work – assisting clients with openpit slope stability analysis and work on tailings dams, as well as foundation investigations.

However, the office also leverages the broad mining, environmental, infrastructure, oil and gas, water and energy expertise in the group’s other offices.

The Ghana office is a ‘springboard’ to other countries in the region where the group is active, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Kwofie said that SRK’s intention was to grow the Ghana office into a hub to take advantage of the company’s footprint and regional network.

“Our recent work in Côte d’Ivoire was an openpit slope stability study for a gold mining client, where our office conducted a prefeasibility study initially,” he said.

The Ghana office was then requested to progress the study to a detailed pit feasibility study, which it conducted in collaboration with its colleagues in SRK’s UK office, in Cardiff.

In Togo, the Ghana office, and its associates recently completed a mineral evaluation for a dimension stone project. The marble and granite operation required the team to use existing drilling data to model the resource and to provide estimates including inferred, indicated and proven resources, as well as net present value for the resource.

Looking ahead, Kwofie suggested that Liberia might be a country to watch in terms of mining potential. There were also new mines coming on stream in Senegal and Mali.

“All our involvement in West Africa has generally been in gold – except in Guinea (gold and bauxite) and Sierra Leone (iron-ore and diamonds),” said Kwofie.

He noted that the ongoing attention paid to the world-class bauxite deposit at Nyinahim – which has been explored and talked about for decades – still presented an exciting opportunity for Ghana.

“This is probably one of the largest bauxite deposits in the world, which could rival the Simandou find, in Guinea,” he said.

The office’s commodity involvement has been expanded through its collaboration with other SRK offices, which draws it into minerals such as copper and also into countries in other regions of Africa, such as Cameroon, Sudan, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Projects

Showroom

Rentech
Rentech

Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.171 0.203s - 90pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now