Ghana’s Parliament has approved a controversial new lithium mining agreement with Barari DV Ghana Limited, setting the stage for a potentially lucrative — and politically divisive — chapter in the country’s natural resource management.

The deal, ratified on Thursday, March 19, introduces a sliding-scale royalty regime that could see Ghana earn up to 12% in royalties depending on global lithium prices. According to Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the mechanism ensures the country benefits more when international market conditions are favorable.

“In the current dispensation… Ghana will get 12 percent royalties due to the sliding scale legislation that has matured into law,” Buah told Parliament.
The agreement also establishes a 1% community development fund and grants Barari DV a 15-year renewable mining lease covering 42.63 square kilometers in Mankessim, located in the Mfantsiman Municipality of the Central Region.
But while the government is touting the deal as a win for Ghana’s economic future — especially amid rising global demand for lithium, a critical component in electric vehicle batteries — it has drawn sharp resistance from the Minority in Parliament.

All 87 Minority members voted against the agreement, citing concerns that their input had been overlooked.

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin did not mince words: the bloc, he said, could not support a deal presented “in its current form and shape,” accusing the Lands Minister of failing to address their objections.
The agreement had been under parliamentary review since December 2025, when it was formally submitted in line with constitutional requirements. It underwent scrutiny by the Committee on Lands and Natural Resources, which consulted key institutions including the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Authority, and the Minerals Income Investment Fund.

Despite that review process, the final vote underscores a familiar tension in Ghana’s extractive sector: how to balance foreign investment, national revenue, and local accountability.

With lithium increasingly central to the global energy transition, the stakes — both economic and political — are only getting higher.

Source:TheDotNews