Aluminum smelter industry to contribute $3bn to economy – Minister

 

Ghana’s aluminium smelter industry has the potential to generate more than $3 billion for the Ghanaian economy annually, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, has projected.

The big boost will be achieved through mining, refining and smelting in addition to contributions from the downstream and allied industries.

The projected injection of more than $10 billion into the aluminium industry is expected to be the elixir for an industry that has been on life support ever since Volta Aluminium Company’s production figures dipped from the late 1990s as cheap Chinese aluminium imports flood the market coupled with unreliable power supply.

More than  35,000 new jobs – 10,000 direct and 25,000 indirect are also expected to be created in an industry that will leverage on the country’s bauxite deposits, the minister said at the inauguration of the newly-constituted governing board of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO).

To be supervised by the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Corporation (GIADEC), the board is tasked with leading the revival of VALCO to transform the aluminium sector, currently dominated by cheap Chinese imports.

The six-member board of the company led by  Dr Henry Benyah has  Daniel Acheampong, Dr. Gloria Naa Dzama Addico,  Samuel Evans Ashong Narh,  Seth Adjete Adjei  and Michael Ansah as members.

The board, of well-accomplished personalities of different backgrounds in the fields of energy, economics and industrialization, have a four-year term to steer the revamping agenda of the Volta Aluminium Company under GIADEC.

The minister was elated that GIADEC and the Ministry have been able to put together a board for VALCO, a company that has been without a board for many years and had seen a dip in its fortunes.

He was hopeful that the new board with the support of GIADEC, will overcome the myriad of challenges VALCO faced to effectively implement a new recovery plan that will see optimisation of the company’s full capacity.

“ In spite of the challenges, VALCO remains a strategic Ghanaian asset that is considered a major cornerstone of the Integrated Aluminium Industry in Ghana. GIADEC, in partnership with the management of VALCO has deployed a Recovery Plan with the aim of retrofitting the plant so that it can produce at its full capacity of 200,000 tonnes per annum and expand by an additional 100,000 tonnes per annum.,” he added.

Mr Asomah-Cheremeh further urged the board and the management of GIADEC who were present at the swearing-in ceremony to give practical meaning to the President’s growth and transformation agenda for the Ghanaian economy, ‘The Ghana Beyond Aid’ Agenda, by leveraging on Ghana’s existing Bauxite reserves and the smeltering of aluminium to make the Ghanaian economy an enviable one.

He reminded both teams, especially the CEO of GIADEC who is also a member of VALCO’s board, developing the country’s aluminium industry was the reason the GIADEC was established.

According to the minister, it is expected that Ghana would be ranked 8th in the world for bauxite reserves (after China and above India) with an expected annual production of 10-20 million tonnes.

The Board Chairman of the Volta Aluminium Company, Dr Henry Benyah, thanked the president of Ghana, the minister and GIADEC for the confidence reposed in him and his team of Directors in especially retrofitting and revamping what is almost becoming a white elephant.

He assured of the team’s commitment to reviving the Company to lead GIADEC’s vision of establishing a viable industry, that is relevant in the whole value chain and pivot to Ghana’s industrialisation programs.

The board chair was emphatic that they will see to the actual retrofitting of the VALCO plant over the next five years to enable the required or expanded production capacity of three hundred thousand (300, 000) metric tonnes.

The Chief Executive Officer of GIADEC, Mr Michael Ansah, who is also a board member of VALCO was happy that GIADEC’s plan of restructuring, reforming and expanding the bauxite and aluminium industry is fully on course, and a typical example is the witnessing of the inauguration of a governing board for VALCO.

Ghana’s  Sinohydro Agreement which will have the Chinese company finance some government capital projects with Ghana paying back with proceeds of refined Bauxite has generated heated controversy, especially over environmental concerns.

However, responding to questions from the media on the mounting concerns over bauxite exploitation in Ghana,  Mr Ansah explained that the deal is a result of a positive well thought out developmental decision that will benefit and develop Ghana as a whole rather than benefitting a few.

“We’ve had bauxite since this country has existed. We have close to a billion tonnes of bauxite. We’ve not exploited this fully. We have only one mine in Awaso today.

“We are looking at exploiting the full resource that we have in Nyihahin today and Kyebi as well and this would give us the beginnings of a mining industry that can support a viable refinery that would feed the smelter that we have” he said.