Keypoints:
- Mining leases could fall to 15 years
- State special-share powers already exist
- Government wants more minerals processed locally
GHANA is preparing to tighten the rules governing its mining industry, with a draft law proposing shorter leases, tougher enforcement of state special-share rights and greater government powers over how minerals are processed.
The proposals add important detail to a reform process Africa Briefing has followed since 2025. They do not create state participation from scratch. Ghana already holds a 10 percent free-carried interest in mining projects, while existing law allows the government to require a special share in a mining company. What changes is the wider framework around those powers.
Special share gets sharper teeth
Reuters, which reviewed a copy of the Minerals and Mining Bill, 2026, reported that the mines minister would retain the power to require a mining company to issue the Republic a special share at no cost.
The share can give the state consent rights over major decisions, including voluntary liquidation and the disposal of a mining lease or significant assets linked to a company’s Ghana operations.
But the provision itself is not new.
Section 60 of Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 already gives the minister that power. The special share ordinarily carries no voting rights or entitlement to dividends, profits or company assets.
The proposed law would, however, make non-compliance more costly. Reuters reported that a company failing to issue the share within two months could face a fine of up to the cedi equivalent of $150,000. The existing law sets the maximum at $10,000.
Lease terms return to 15 years
The draft would also reduce mining leases to 15 years or the projected life of the mine, whichever is shorter, compared with up to 30 years under current law.
That number has shifted during the reform process.
During government consultations on mining reform in July 2025, officials said mining leases could be capped at 15 years. But in July 2026, Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said the revised bill would set a maximum of 20 years.
The draft reviewed by Reuters therefore appears to return to the shorter option considered earlier.
Parliament of Ghana records show that the Minerals and Mining Bill, 2026 was laid and gazetted on May 26.
Push for more value at home
The legislation also fits into Ghana’s wider effort to keep more value from its mineral wealth inside the country.
Africa Briefing has previously reported on President John Mahama’s mining reform agenda, which puts greater emphasis on local ownership, technology transfer and domestic processing.
Reuters reported that the draft would allow government to require minerals to be processed in Ghana and provide for future restrictions on exports of unprocessed mineral concentrates.
That approach also follows Ghana’s push to expand the role of local contractors in the mining industry.
The government has meanwhile sought to distinguish tighter regulation from nationalisation. As Africa Briefing previously reported on Ghana’s nationalisation debate, Armah-Kofi Buah has ruled out blanket state takeovers of multinational mining assets.
Parliament holds the next move
The bill brings several strands of Ghana’s mining reform into one debate: shorter leases, state participation, local processing and stronger domestic involvement.
For mining companies, the detail will matter because large projects depend on long investment horizons. For Ghana, the central issue is how to retain more value from its mineral resources while continuing to attract capital into the sector.
The special share may command attention, but the broader change is more significant. Ghana is attempting to rewrite the terms under which its mineral wealth is developed — and how much of the resulting value stays at home.
