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The government is set to limit mining lease renewal to a maximum of ten years, according to the new cabinet approved law expected to be gazetted soon.
The development revokes the old mining legislation which allowed for a 30-year extension, slashing the length of time companies can operate mines in Africa’s largest gold producer without renewing their rights.
Analysts have observed, the new rules could impasse plans of companies including Gold Fields, which has its biggest mine in the West African nation.
The South Africa company in November applied for a 20-year extension of its leases, which expire in April 2027, at the Tarkwa mine. The operation produced 475,000 ounces of the precious metal in 2025, or nearly a fifth of the company’s combined output.
If enacted, the new rules will also reduce the maximum term for new mining leases to 20 years from 30 years, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources said in a statement on its website.
“There has not been a compelling evidence-based case demonstrating that Ghana’s mining regime required such an aggressive overhaul,” said Benjamin Boakye, executive director at Africa Centre for Energy Policy.
“The challenge is not simply to extract more fiscal value from the sector, but to optimize mining’s overall contribution to the economy while preserving the country’s competitiveness as an investment destination,” he said.
Ghana is pushing to benefit more from high bullion prices and increase the participation of local firms in its gold industry. Earlier this year, the government hiked royalties on the precious metal to as much as 12 percent from five percent and restricted bids for a former Gold Fields mine to companies wholly owned by citizens of the country.
That tender was won by Engineers and Planners Co. Ltd., a firm that belongs to President John Mahama’s brother. E&P already held a mining contract at the asset it acquired and continues to do so at Tarkwa.
The nation has also weighed transferring control of the Tarkwa mine to a consortium of Ghanaian firms once the leases expire as Mahama’s administration faces domestic pressure to act against South African firms following a wave of xenophobic protests in the continent’s biggest economy.
