A drone view shows Damang gold mine near the town of Abosso, Ghana, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on January 26, 2026. Gold Fields/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
For the first time in Ghana’s mining history, an indigenous company is set to take full operational control of a major large-scale gold mine. Engineers and Planners (E&P) Company Limited is positioned to become the first indigenous Ghanaian company to take full operational control of a major large-scale gold mine , after the government named it the preferred bidder to revive and operate the Damang gold mine in the Western Region.
Mines Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah announced the decision, saying the Minerals Commission had formally recommended E&P as the successful bidder following a competitive tender process. The award marks a significant step in Accra’s drive to increase local participation in a sector long dominated by foreign multinationals.
E&P cleared the government’s financial threshold, demonstrating access to $505 million in financing against a stipulated minimum of $500 million. The company also scored strongly on technical experience, equipment, safety and local content, according to the minister’s statement. According to Gold Fields’ feasibility study, Damang could produce 100,000 to 150,000 ounces of gold each year for at least nine more years , making the potential revival a commercially attractive proposition in an era of elevated gold prices.
The tender follows Ghana’s refusal last year to renew the mining lease of Johannesburg-based Gold Fields, breaking with a long-standing practice of automatic lease extensions. Authorities cited the company’s failure to declare verifiable reserves as a key reason for taking control of the asset , after which the government began soliciting local bids for what officials have described as a potential $1 billion revival of the mine.
Gold Fields Limited’s 30-year mining lease for the Damang Mine expired in 2025, and following a one-year government extension to allow transition arrangements, the South African mining company confirmed it will formally transfer the mine to the Government of Ghana on April 18, 2026. The company had previously indicated it might sell the asset, citing its limited remaining life and lack of economic reserves, and said last month it was working to ensure a smooth transition to a new operator.
E&P’s path to this point has been years in the making. The records show that the Ghanaian mining services company started taking steps to acquire the Damang asset as early as September 2023, more than a year before the country’s presidential election in December 2024. When Gold Fields issued a demobilisation notice to E&P, then the mine’s primary contractor, instructing it to withdraw equipment as pit mining wound down, the company responded not by leaving but by submitting a formal acquisition proposal.
E&P secured a US$205 million syndicated loan in February 2026, arranged by Stanbic Bank Ghana and Standard Bank of South Africa, with Ecobank Ghana and Absa Bank Ghana as participating lenders, to expand its mining operations. The company is also planning to invest approximately US$1.2 billion for its ongoing contract operations at Gold Fields’ Tarkwa and Damang gold mines in Ghana.
The deal has not been without controversy. E&P is owned by Ibrahim Mahama, a businessman and the younger brother of President John Dramani Mahama, who returned to office in January 2025. The company has described the acquisition process as purely commercial, predating the December 2024 election by more than a year. Critics in parliament have questioned the transparency of the award, while a policy analyst’s published concerns prompted E&P to file a defamation suit, which remains ongoing.
Authorities have defended the process, saying the tender is designed to keep the mine operating, protect jobs and increase local participation in Ghana’s mining sector, goals that align with a broader continental trend of resource nationalism reshaping how African governments manage mineral assets.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah