This piece explains how an injunction can preserve control of a public-resource concession while a court examines whether its lease was lawfully terminated.
Company asks court to preserve the concession
Northern Ashanti Mines Company Limited has applied to the Commercial Division of Ghana’s High Court in Accra for an injunction against the Minerals Commission and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources. The company wants the court to prevent them from taking possession of its Konongo concession, reallocating it to third parties or deploying security to enforce the termination of its mining lease. The Attorney-General is also named as a respondent. The requested restrictions would remain in place while the court considers the company’s challenge to the lease termination. The filing is an application, not a ruling, and the court has not determined whether the government’s proposed action is lawful.
Alleged removal order follows lease termination notice
In a supporting affidavit, Administrative Manager Jonathan Adongo alleges that Minerals Commission officials accompanied by military personnel visited the mine on October 22, 2026. He says they ordered the company, staff and workers to leave the mine, offices and residential accommodation by midday that day. Northern Ashanti Mines says a forcible takeover could threaten equipment, operations, exploration records and geological data, as well as staff and surrounding communities. The dispute follows a termination notice dated April 30, 2026, which said the company had failed or refused to remedy breaches within the statutory and regulatory timeframe. Those allegations have not been tested by the court.
Investment claims raise the stakes for the mine
Northern Ashanti Mines says it is wholly Ghanaian-owned and is redeveloping the historic Konongo Gold Mine in the Ashanti Region. It says its lease was renewed on February 2, 2023, for 13 years over about 125 square kilometres, and that Parliament ratified the renewal through February 1, 2036. The company says it has committed more than US$83.34 million to the concession and recently secured a facility of more than US$30 million for a gold processing plant, which it describes as more than 50% complete. The affidavit puts total committed expenditure at about US$110 million and says approximately 422 people are employed directly and indirectly.
What the injunction procedure would do
An injunction in this setting is an interim court order designed to preserve the position of the parties while a judicial review proceeds. It does not itself decide whether the lease termination was valid, whether alleged breaches occurred or whether the concession should ultimately remain with the company. Northern Ashanti Mines says it received no notice of a breach, no opportunity to remedy alleged breaches and no chance to explain why its mineral rights should not be cancelled. It also says letters from its lawyers dated May 4 and a petition dated May 20 received no response. The court must now consider whether temporary protection is justified before determining the underlying dispute.
IN NUMBERS
The injunction application places the control of a Ghanaian mining concession, the protection of public mineral rights and the security of a substantial private investment before the court. Until the judicial review is determined, the company’s account of the alleged takeover and the authorities’ stated basis for termination remain contested positions rather than established findings.
Reported from myjoyonline.com, 2026-10-25. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
