Northern Ashanti Mines threatens international legal action over lease termination

A director of Northern Ashanti Mines Limited, Fred Okine, says the company will consider pursuing its dispute with the Minerals Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources before international courts if efforts to resolve the matter through dialogue fail.

He said the company’s board had resolved to consider international legal action over the termination of its mining lease if the Commission, the sector minister and other relevant authorities were unwilling to engage in discussions.

Speaking to Sammie Wiafe on Citi FM’s Eyewitness  News on Thursday, October 22, Mr Okine said the company remained open to an amicable settlement but was prepared to pursue legal action to protect its investment.

“If the Commission and the Minister are amenable to dialogue, we will not proceed with any strenuous court action. But if they are not willing to yield, I think the Board has taken a decision to pursue this matter even to the international courts,” he said.

He said the company could not allow its investment to be lost without challenging the decision. “Because you don’t make an investment of $120 million in three years and allow it to whittle down the drain,” he added.

Mr Okine questioned the handling of the dispute, arguing that the company had not been given the opportunity to address any outstanding issues through the usual engagement process with the regulator.

“Anytime we have issues with the regulator, the regulator calls us in and then we dialogue, or we are asked to remedy the issues. In this instance, it looks like we are not in normal times, and there is an intention to deprive us of whatever investments that we have made,” he said.

He described the treatment of the company as unfair, noting that it was a joint venture involving a wholly Ghanaian-owned company.

“And as a joint venture partner, I think that when you have a wholly owned Ghanaian company that is being subjected to this kind of treatment, it is totally unfair,” he said.

Mr Okine said Northern Ashanti Mines was petitioning the Minerals Commission and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources again to seek a fair resolution. He maintained that the company had taken steps to meet its regulatory obligations, including spending substantial sums on renewing its mining lease and obtaining environmental and mining permits.

“As I said, we have spent several hundreds of thousands in the renewal of our mining lease, in getting environmental permits and mining permits. We are not in contravention of anything,” he said.

He added that where the company had been unable to make certain payments immediately, it had arranged to settle them in instalments, which he said the regulator had previously accommodated.

Mr Okine also alleged that a recent security operation at the company’s premises appeared to benefit another company, whose identity Northern Ashanti Mines intended to scrutinise.

Reports on Thursday, October 22, indicated that military and police personnel had taken control of the company’s premises and instructed workers to leave. The precise relationship between the reported operation and the termination of the mining lease has not been independently established.

Meanwhile, Northern Ashanti Mines has filed an application for judicial review at the High Court in Accra, challenging the termination of its mining lease covering the Konongo area in the Ashanti Region.

The application, directed at the Minerals Commission, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the Attorney-General, seeks to have the termination decision declared unlawful and quashed.

Court documents sighted by Citi Newsroom identify a letter dated April 30, 2026, signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, as the instrument communicating the termination.

The company argues that the decision was taken without lawful authority and breached mandatory procedures under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), and the Minerals and Mining (Licensing) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2176).

In an affidavit supporting the application, Jonathan Adongo, identified as the company’s Administrative Manager, states that Northern Ashanti Mines was not notified of the alleged breaches cited in the termination letter or given an opportunity to remedy them before the decision was taken.

The company further argues that Section 68 of Act 703 sets out the procedure for suspending or cancelling a mineral right and that the relevant authorities failed to comply with the applicable requirements.

The matter is before the High Court, while the company says it remains willing to engage the authorities to resolve the dispute.