
An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Pius Siakwah (IASH-SSPS Research Fellow)
Repeating the curse of hydrocarbon industry: exploring contestations in governance and investment regimes of critical minerals in Ghana
Ghana has been the hub of hard mineral extraction, including gold for about 100 years, hence the country has historically been referred to as the Gold Coast. Mining is undertaken by both large-scale and small-scale mining (ASM) with attendant challenges. In 2007, commercial quantities of oil and gas as discovered in Ghana with commercial production starting in 2010. The hope is using these resources structural transformation and economic development of Ghana remains a dream since these resources are exported in raw form. The recent discovery of lithium in Ghana has greeted with mixed reactions, given the disappointments with commercial oil and other hard minerals. The research is framed within the context of the ideology of external exploitation in the creation of scarcity, doublethink relative to the superiority of Western ideas, and civilising the other in managing resources – a dual mandate. The study raises questions about how can Ghana avoid the mistakes of the hydrocarbon industry in terms of governance, benefit sharing, and structural transformation to make the lithium discovery count. Using qualitative methodology through discourse and document analysis, we interrogate the governance and contracts regime, financing, technology and investment and value chain of the critical minerals and how this informs energy transition in Ghana. How is the country positioned in this emerging extractive space? What is the country's stake and nature of the value chain and who controls it? How do financing and technology shape benefits in the extractive space? Is Ghana Lithium finding another race to the bottom? Initial assessments are showing signs of a tendency to repeat mistakes in areas of contract, elite capture of the stake through purchases of discounted shares even before production starts, value addition, local community agitations and general discount about another race to the bottom.
Please join in-person, or click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83015772676
Passcode: b1QpaAD7