PMMC challenged to be more profitable

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, has tasked the board of the Precious Minerals and Marketing Company (PMMC) to make value addition to the minerals mined in the country a priority for the business.

This, he said, is the only way the company can be profitable and rake in revenue from the exploitation of minerals amidst price challenges on the world market.

“Adding value to minerals exploited in a country is a means to create more jobs for people and make more money from the improved quality of the minerals…Major gold producers in the world have been able to use this resource to their advantage by adding value and making it readily available to their citizens.

“In Ghana, however, this has not been given the due attention. It has been realised over the years that export of precious minerals in their raw form has not been worthwhile in view of dwindling margins on the world market emanating from the effects of the global economic turmoil, which has resulted in great instability in the prices of these minerals.

“I urge the board of PMMC to use their expertise to explore into more innovative areas and to add value to other precious minerals as well as gold and diamond, and to increase the profitability of the company,” he said.

Alhaji Fuseini said this when he inaugurated a reconstituted board of PMMC, which is chaired by Brigadier-General Charles Richter-Addo.

Other members of the Board include Alhaji Sanni Mohammed, Edmund Yaw Hassan, Michael Ologo, Addunku Bretuo Amoah, and Dr. George Abradu-Otoo.

PMMC has over the years faced challenges in its operations, recording balance sheet losses in 2011 -- from which it recovered the following year to post a marginal net profit of GH₵53,000.

Government has already planned to open the state-controlled firm to private participation.

According to PMMC’s last published accounts in 2012, jewellery sales are the company’s main revenue earner as other revenue generating streams such as gold and diamond exports all went down by 40 percent, which affected the foreign exchange earning position.

The company believes the increase in jewellery sales is a boost to management’s drive to ensure value addition to rough diamond and gold before export.

Brigadier-General Richter-Addo assured that strategies to enhance the company’s fortunes will be premised on past workable strategies.

By Evans Boah-Mensah | B&FT Online | Ghana