GOLD Fields’s efforts to renew its mining licence for Tarkwa in Ghana, the group’s single largest mine, have been complicated by a $740m legal fight with its contractor, E&P (Engineers & Planning).
E&P is also the contractor at the Damang mine, which Gold Fields is this month transferring to a local company – most likely E&P – by agreement with the government. E&P is owned by Ibrahim Mahama, the younger brother of Ghana President John Dramani Mahama.
E&P has submitted two legal claims against Gold Fields – $474.9m relating to a dispute at Tarkwa and $264.7m in respect of Damang.
Gold Fields declined to detail the nature of the dispute but said it was opposing them. “Gold Fields has formally responded to E&P, confirming that we disagree with E&P’s position,” it said via e-mail. “Based on the opinion of our legal advisors, we believe that neither prospective claim has merit and intend to defend our position,” it added.
Asked whether the legal fight clouded Gold Fields’s efforts to secure Tarkwa’s mining lease renewal, it said: “We are focused on securing the renewal of the five Tarkwa mining leases that expire in April 2027.”
But it acknowledged that a broader review of mining and fiscal regulations in Ghana had introduced “some complexity into the lease renewal process”.
“We are confident that our renewal application and the supporting life of mine technical case support an extension of the leases in accordance with the relevant legislation in Ghana,” it said of Tarkwa.
Commenting in the group’s annual report, Gold Fields’s outgoing chairperson Yunus Suleman said the group had established a sub-committee to manage the “increasingly complex Ghana jurisdiction”.
Incoming chairperson John MacKenzie will sit on the committee along with Suleman as well as independent non-executive board members Philisiwe Sibiya and Alhassan Andani.
“Gold Fields is continuing to work through a number of material, concurrent processes and matters in Ghana including: the orderly transition of Damang, the Tarkwa lease renewals, implemented changes in the royalty regime, proposed changes to mining legislation as well as matters related to our mining contractor,” the group said.
“The purpose of the board sub-committee is to provide enhanced board oversight on these matters,” it added.
Ghana is reforming its mining sector to increase state revenue. This includes the adoption of a sliding-scale gold royalty of 5% to 12% and the phasing out of long-term stability agreements with major miners.
Gold Fields confirmed that its stability agreement for Tarkwa would expire next April.
Ghana’s legislative changes also include restricting certain tenders to local firms and establishing the “GoldBod” authority to manage small-scale gold exports.
Tarkwa produced 537,000 ounces of gold in Gold Fields’s 2026 financial year. Gold Fields said that with the mining lease renewal it would press ahead with plans for the mine’s 23-year extension.
