The Minerals Commission in a statement signed by its current Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kwadwo Addae Antwi-Boasiako, has deflated the propaganda of government officials that the granting of the Bauxite concessions to Exton Cubic Group Limited, a company linked to businessman Ibrahim Mahama. The statement confirmed the invitation sent to various companies including Exton Cubic for the acquisition of their mining leases.
Many governments spokesperson including Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Gideon Boako who speaks for the Vice President, NPP General Secretary John Boadu, Nana B and many other communicators of government and the ruling party in recent weeks have sought to attack the granting of the mining lease to Exton Cubic. General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu, addressing the media on Sunday, September 15, 2019, in the Central Region said Ghanaians were lucky to have elected President Akufo-Addo, because, “he (Mahama) would have added our bauxite reserves to the bunch of goodies he gifted his brother”, but the statement by the minerals commission debunks that assertion.
The Minerals Commission confirmed the document published on various social media platforms and news portals which seek to vindicate the position of Exton Cubic Group a mining company affiliated to businessman Ibrahim Mahama going through due process in the acquisition of its mining leases.
In a statement published in reaction to the various publications, the minerals commission confirmed the documents were valid but protested the newspaper’s stance that the ‘leaked documents” were hidden by the Minerals Commission because they would have shown that the Company “had obtained authorization to prospect for bauxite at the Nyinahin Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region” and that the document was public record.
The minerals commission letter seeks to confirm the position of the company and many industry experts including Dr. Tony Aubyn who who is a former Chief Executive Officer of commission that the company went through rigorous due process in the acquisition of their mining leases.
The minerals commission also confirms in its latest statement that, Exton Cubic Group Limited, was one of the four companies including ; BXC Company (Ghana) Limited, Coronation Trust Resources and Rocksure International., that were written to by the Minerals Commission.
In a minerals commission letter dated January 13, 2014, the commission invited FOUR local companies to tender for rights to the concessions it read in part “The minerals commission has granted non-exclusive due diligence permit to a number of companies including yourselves, over the Kibi and Nyinahin bauxite ore deposits in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions of Ghana respectively to enable them to cross validate the existing data for the development of the bauxite ore deposits into an integrated aluminium industry.” The companies cited in the leaked documents are ; Exton Cubic Group Limited, BXC Company (Ghana) Limited, Coronation Trust Resources and Rocksure International.
Rejoinder: Hidden Letters of Exton Cubic Group Ltd.
The Minerals Commission’s attention has been drawn to two publications in the Tuesday October 30-31, 2019 and Monday November 4-5, 2019 editions respectively, of ‘The Herald’ newspaper captioned:
- Minerals Commission’s Hidden Letter Exposes Government Mischief on Exton Cubic
- Minerals Commission Exposed for Hiding Dossier on Exton Cubic
In support of the above headlines, ‘The Herald’ claimed that it has in its possession “leaked documents” from the Minerals Commission that demonstrated the “rigorous and transparent nature” leading to the award of a bauxite concession to Messrs. Exton Cubic Group (the “Company”).
It is the newspaper’s stance that the ‘leaked documents” were hidden by the Minerals Commission because they would have shown that the Company “had obtained authorization to prospect for bauxite at the Nyinahin Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region”
The Minerals Commission would like to react to these two publications as follows:
- It is instructive to state that the purportedly leaked documents which the newspaper claimed were hidden were in fact addressed to all concerned parties, including Exton Cubic Group. For instance, a casual glance at the letter published in the newspaper’s October 29-30, 2019 edition would reveal that the Company was one of the four companies that were written to by the Minerals Commission.
It is also worth recalling that the Company itself had earlier relied on the said documents in a Press Statement captioned: ‘Exton Cubic Group rejects Minister’s claim’. Reference: Ghana/myjoyonline.com on 22-08-2017.
In light of the fact that these documents are already in the public domain, it is mind boggling and extremely ridiculous that these same documents were hidden by the Minerals Commission and only exposed by way of a leakage to the newspaper.
The Minerals Commission, as a statutory institution of the state, was not a party to the suit brought against the Republic by Exton Cubic Group. The Company neither requested nor served any court-sanctioned request for any documents from the Commission regarding the case it mounted against the Republic, because it had the documents, some of which the Company itself had referred to in its press statement cited above.
In the circumstances, the Minerals Commission comes to no other conclusion than to say that the Herald newspaper articles in relation to the Minerals Commission were mischievous, deficient in truth, and designed to deliberately mislead.
- Concluding, the Minerals Commission wishes to state that while its doors are wide open and welcoming to the media and the public at large, it behooves the media to be impartial and to desist from publishing stories without cross checking or without any credible basis.
- Signed by: The Chief Executive Officer
