President John Dramani Mahama government has taken a decisive turn in its mining strategy, cancelling a high-stakes $1.2 billion bauxite lease granted
President John Dramani Mahama government has taken a decisive turn in its mining strategy, cancelling a high-stakes $1.2 billion bauxite lease granted to local firm Rocksure International and setting its sights on securing a strategic partnership with a major international player.
The cancelled deal centered around the Nyinahin Hills Ashanti region—one of West Africa’s richest untapped bauxite reserves.
According to sources with direct knowledge of the situation, the government is now in advanced talks with global aluminum giants, including Dubai-based Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) and potential Chinese partners, in a bid to attract the scale of investment needed to develop the sector comprehensively.
Background: The Rocksure-GIADEC Venture
The revoked agreement was part of a joint venture between Rocksure and the state-owned Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation (GIADEC), structured to develop the Nyinahin deposit—estimated to hold about 376 million metric tons of bauxite.
Rocksure held a commanding 70% stake in the Asante Bauxite Company, with GIADEC and the Government of Ghana owning 20% and 10% respectively.
However, legal complications surrounded the deal from its inception. The lease, signed under the administration’s industrialization drive, was never ratified by Parliament.
That oversight rendered it invalid based on a 2019 Supreme Court precedent—known as the Exton Cubic ruling—which held that parliamentary ratification is mandatory for all mineral rights.
“By the Exton Cubic ruling, without ratification, you have no lease,” one of the sources close to the matter explained, confirming that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had communicated the legal position to Rocksure.
Despite this, Rocksure has reportedly not been formally served with a termination notice.
A source familiar with internal discussions noted that GIADEC had merely indicated it was withdrawing from the venture.
Both Rocksure and GIADEC declined to comment publicly, citing the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources also remained silent on the matter despite repeated requests.
Strategic Pivot: Attracting Global Capital
Ghana possesses an estimated 900 million metric tons of bauxite—the seventh largest deposit globally—but has consistently lagged behind in both production and refining capacity.
The decision to cancel Rocksure’s lease is seen as part of a broader strategy to attract international capital and technical expertise to fast-track development of the aluminum value chain.
This pivot comes as Guinea, Ghana’s neighbour and Africa’s leading bauxite producer, continues to attract billions in mining investments.
Ghana, in contrast, has struggled to commercialize its deposits beyond extraction.
GIADEC is now actively pursuing talks with Emirates Global Aluminum and Chinese state-linked mining groups. Notably, EGA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GIADEC in June 2025, signaling renewed interest in the Ghanaian bauxite sector after abandoning earlier plans in 2022 to avoid jeopardizing its operations in Guinea.
“EGA has expressed interest in jointly developing bauxite opportunities in Ghana and is currently assessing the technical and commercial parameters of such collaboration,” the company told Reuters in a written response.
It, however, clarified that no binding agreement has yet been signed.
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