Newmont Ghana pays over $94m as royalties since 2006

Newmont Ghana, a subsidiary of US miner, Newmont Mining Corporation, which is the largest mining company in the world  says it has since 2006 paid a total of $93.8 million dollars as royalties and $91.1 million dollars as corporate tax to government of Ghana.

The company says it generates nearly 10% of Ghana’s total exports and 4.5% of total FDI, amounting to almost 2% of GDP.

Additionally, the company has since its operations created some 48,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, Mr Agbeko Azumah, Communications Manager of the company told journalists on a tour of the company’s operational area in the Asutifi North District in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The journalists, from the Parliamentary Press Corps, were on a tour to acquaint themselves with the operations of the company as part of an educational package to help them understand the processes involved in mining, and how it informs the formulation of mining bills, agreements and other related mining documents, brought before parliament for deliberation.

Mr Azumah said the company employs approximately 34,000 people globally with about 5,881 of these people currently employed in Ghana.

He said Newmont Ghana has two sites in the country with the Ahafo site currently operating while the Akyem site is under construction.

He said the company contributed 1.3% of Ghana’s GDP(mining contributes 6.3%) and also the country benefited from the company through some 20.7% of Ghana’s gold exports and 9% of Ghana’s total exports in 2009 with $292 million gross revenue spent in Ghana.

According to Mr Azumah, the expected mining life of the company is 20 years and annual gold production now covers 500 – 550 ounces of gold in the four operational pits in areas including Apensu, Subika and Amoma.

The company was adjudged the Best Corporate Tax Payer in Ghana in 201.

By Eunice Menka