Protect Adamus, don’t gag it – Kofi Bentil to Lands Minister

The Senior Vice President of Policy think-tank, Imani Africa, Mr Kofi Bentil has admonished the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Kofi Armah Buah, MP, to as a matter of priority, protect Adamus Resources Limited, as an indigenous mining company and not to destroy the company by revoking their mining lease.

The lands and natural resources minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, is said to have reportedly, upheld the purported revocation of three mining leases belonging to Adamus Resources Limited as at 10 August 2026, sighting various infractions of the Mining and Minerals laws of Ghana.

The decision follows the submission of a final report by an Inter-Ministerial Committee which reviewed a petition by Adamus Resources Limited against the initial purported revocation of their mining leases in April 2026. The affected leases are the Akango, Salman and Nkroful concessions.

However, in a post on his Facebook Wall on Monday, 10 August 2026, Mr Bentil who is also an experienced lawyer and has dealt in mining pointed out that there must be a manifest effort on the part of the government to protect Ghanaians who venture into the mining space of the country and that those who do, ought to be protected and supported to thrive.

“It is always a sad thing when an indigenous Ghanaian loses their business. As a rule I maintain that our governments and officials across parties must bend backwards to help indigenous Ghanaian businesses to succeed.

“When it comes to natural resources, I am even more passionate about that. That’s why I back Mr Ibrahim Mahama’s efforts to take over as many Mines as he can operate.

“There should be no impediment in the way of a Ghanaian seeking to exploit our natural resources. We have tended to favor foreigners in the past it is time to focus on the few Ghanaians who are capable and help them,” Bentil wrote in his Facebook post.

“I don’t know the owners of Adamus but that doesn’t stop me from saying we must make sure they are helped as much as possible. I won’t say the same thing is there was proof of criminal activity or blatant law breaking. I will Follow this case well.
“My generation must make a determined effort to leave as much of our natural. Resources as possible in the hands of our own people and help them to succeed.

“Minister Armah Kofi Buah must be able to prove that this was an incurable case of malfeasance otherwise he must help and not tear down local businesses,” Kofi Bentil’s post further read.

Background

The mining leases of Adamus were initially revoked last April following recommendations from the Minerals Commission after inspections identified what the Commission described as material breaches of mining laws and regulations.

The Minerals Commission said Adamus had assigned portions of its mineral rights to foreign nationals without the required written approval from the minister. It also said the company had undertaken mining activities outside permitted areas without an approved Operating Permit.

The Commission further found that required environmental and forestry approvals had not been obtained before operations began in the assigned areas. The review committee also raised concerns about the company’s cooperation with the Interim Management Committee established to oversee the mine.

According to the committee, Adamus concealed information and provided misleading data during the review process. The committee also identified outstanding financial obligations, including US$2.56 million in mineral rights fees, GH¢86.8 million in royalties and GH¢290.5 million in tax arrears.

It further identified unexplained differences in gold exports and said US$224 million had been transferred to related parties outside Ghana between 2020 and 2024. The committee also found that the company’s environmental bonds had only been partially fulfilled.

Adamus has meanwhile vehemently disputed these adverse findings maintaining they were all trumped up charges to ground the Minister’s aggression against the company.

“They are a bunch of false allegations which have been manufactured to discredit the company. The evidence on the ground defeats these findings” said an Executive Member of the management team of Adamus who wishes to remain anonymous.

Crucially, it is emerging that in spite of the said infractions against Adamus, the Minister is acting against the law by not giving the company a 120-day period to correct the supposed findings of the committee.

“There is something seriously amiss here. The law requires you to give the company 120 days to remedy the failures discovered in inspection. That 120 day grace period is non-negotiable and the Minister’s word cannot operate above the law.

“Its an abuse of power fuelled by greed if indeed ot is established that the Minister is not acting in accordance with the law,” said an investigative journalist who has gone under and is investigating the activities of Hon. Kofi Armah Buah over this Adamus brouhaha.