Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Minerals Commissions responsible for Policy Planning, Mineral Titles and Local Content, Ms. Victoria Awuni, led delegation of management staff to pay a courtesy call to the Australian High Commissioner in Ghana.
Ms. Awuni for and on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Martin Kwaku Ayisi, expressed the gratitude of Management and staff of the Commission for the growing raproshma between the Australian High Commission and Minerals Commission in fostering investor interest, trust and confidence in the Ghanaian mining industry.
On the part of the Australian High Commission, Her Excellency Berenice Owen-Jones, expressed excitement over the progressive interventions being implemented by Minerals Commission and assured of her continued commitment to ensuring the relationship between her office and Minerals Commission grows and impact positively on the Ghanaian mining industry. Her Excellency, Commissioner Berenice Owen-Jones in particular requested of the Commission to consider a systematic introduction of new items on the Minerals and Mining Procurement List to give suppliers more flexibility in restructuring their operations.
Commissioner Berenice also commended management of Minerals Commission for the ongoing broader stakeholder consultations regarding the review of the mining sector policies and legal regime. She encouraged the government to continue leveraging on the annual global competitive mining conference in Perth, Africa Dow Under to interact with and attract more mining firms into the country. She touted the good governance, peaceful nature, robust legal systems, quality human resources and friendly investment environment of Ghana as sufficient evidence to every well meaning investor. Her Excellency Bernice also implored upon the management of Minerals Commission to encourage more of its employees to take advantage of the Australia Awards Scholarship to improve on their skills and knowledge of the ever growing mining industry.
Ms. Victoria Awuni apprised the High Commissioner of the usefulness and impact of the Mining Cadastre Administration System (MCAS), which was introduced to the Minerals Commission by the Australian High in 2015. The MCAS is a web-based software application that supports governments manage their mineral rights. The software manages the full lifecycle of a mining right, from application through approval, licensing, renewals and finally expiration. MCAS has a compliance module that tracks all payments made, payments outstanding, royalties, production reports, and contract terms to ensure compliance of license holders.
Ms. Awuni also updated Commissioner Bernice on the number of Minerals Commission staff currently studying in Australia and thanked her for the continued support with opportunities and facilitating official travels of officials to Australia.