Ghana's mining report

Ghana hosts the second-largest gold deposits in the African region after South Africa. Consequently, thenation derives a bulk of its external revenues from gold mining -forming as much as 90% of the totalmineral exports of Ghana. Apart from gold, Ghana also produces significant quantities of bauxite anddiamonds. The country is also counted among the top five nations across the globe for its manganese oreproduction. Ghana plays host to some of the biggest names from the global extractive industry - GoldFields (Ghana), Newmont Ghana and South Africa��s AngloGold Ashanti.

Gold continues to play a crucial role in the Ghanaian economy. In January 2008, the central bank said thatthe economy had performed strongly in 2007, largely as a result of a 35% surge in gold exports that morethan offset a fall in cocoa output, which fell after a record harvest in 2006. Ghana��s gold exports totalledUS$1.73bn in 2007, up from US$1.28bn in the previous year, the bank said in a quarterly report cited byReuters. Total exports rose by 12.6%, to reach US$4.19bn.

Though the mining industry has been successful in attracting foreign capital, it has also been subject tocriticism from the Ghanaian government, environmentalists and human rights activists.