The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Kenneth Ashigbey, has proposed the deployment of National Service personnel into geological exploration and mapping activities as part of efforts to strengthen Ghana’s extractive sector and improve long-term value creation from the country’s mineral resources.
Speaking at the JoyBusiness Roundtable on the theme, “To Nationalise or Transform: Rethinking Ghana’s Approach to Gold Mining, Oil and Critical Minerals,” Mr Ashigbey argued that Ghana could make better use of the thousands of graduates enrolled annually under the National Service Scheme by assigning them to exploration and resource mapping projects across the country.
According to him, expanding geological exploration remains one of the most important steps Ghana must take if it hopes to deepen local participation in the mining industry and improve returns from its natural resources sector.
“My suggestion for government is that the National Service people we bring out, let’s put them in the field to do exploration and mapping for us to support the sector, and that will help,” he stated during the discussion.
Mr Ashigbey explained that increased exploration activities would generate critical geological data needed for effective resource planning, investment attraction and sustainable development within the mining industry.
He further noted that better geological mapping could help identify untapped mineral deposits while also creating opportunities for Ghanaian professionals and local businesses to participate more actively across the mining value chain.
The Chamber of Mines CEO stressed that building local technical expertise and improving access to geological information would position Ghana to retain more value from its mineral resources instead of relying heavily on foreign-led exploration and extraction activities.
His proposal forms part of a broader national conversation on how Ghana can transform its extractive industries through stronger local capacity development, increased value retention and policy reforms that support sustainable economic growth beyond raw resource extraction.
The discussion also comes at a time when governments and industry players across Africa are exploring ways to maximise benefits from critical minerals and natural resources amid growing global demand for strategic minerals used in energy transition technologies and industrial production.
