Ibrahim Mahama’s Company, Azumah Resources Ghana Given Ultimatum In Black Volta Gold Impasse
- Azumah Resources Ghana Limited and Engineers & Planners have been given a week to resolve their impasse
- Lands Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah wrote a letter with an ultimatum to the two companies
- Azumah Resources Ghana Limited and Engineers & Planners are at odds over a $100 million acquisition agreement signed in October 2023
Lands Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has waded into the fracas between Azumah Resources Ghana Limited and Engineers & Planners, founded by Ibrahim Mahama.
The minister, in a letter, has given the two companies a seven-day ultimatum to resolve their dispute over the ownership and control of the Black Volta Gold Project.
Source: Facebook
3News reported that Buah also warned against further media engagement on the matter.
“Should this period elapse without a mutually agreed resolution, a decision shall be taken in the best interest of the country.”
Buah further directed the Minerals Commission to intervene and assist in the resolution process to ensure the timely commencement of the gold mining project in the Upper West Region.
About the Black Volta impasse
Azumah Resources Ghana Limited and Engineers & Planners are at odds over the status of a $100 million acquisition agreement signed in October 2023.
Engineers & Planners has said there is a deliberate effort to distort facts surrounding its purchase of Azumah’s Black Volta Gold Project, insisting that the agreement with reached in good faith after Azumah’s shareholders approached them in May 2023 to offload the struggling mine.
Engineers & Planners disclosed that the original agreement involved a US$100 million purchase price to be paid in two instalments.
The company claims it assumed all liabilities, including debts exceeding US$5 million owed to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Minerals Commission, and has since invested an average of US$500,000 monthly in maintaining the project.
However, Engineers & Planners alleges that the dispute escalated in August 2024 when Azumah’s director, James Wallbank, demanded a new price of US$300 million due to increasing global gold prices. E&P rejected the demand and initiated arbitration proceedings.
Engineers & Planners also revealed that the High Court of Ghana ruled in June 2025 that Azumah’s attempt to terminate the agreement had no legal effect and ordered that the status quo be maintained.
The July 7, 2025, signing ceremony at the Marriott Hotel—which Azumah publicly distanced itself from—was clarified by E&P to be between the company and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) for a US$100 million facility to finance the acquisition.
According to Engineers & Planners’s Business Development Director, Emmanuel Erskine, the project remains a fully commercial transaction and not politically motivated.
“This is a historic opportunity for a wholly owned Ghanaian company to develop a large-scale gold mine. Ghanaians should support this effort, not sabotage it,” he said.
In a separate statement, Azumah reaffirmed its commitment to developing the Black Volta Gold Mine in the Upper West Region and expressed confidence in Ghana’s legal and regulatory framework, amid an ongoing dispute with Engineers & Planners Company Limited (E&P).
As tensions continue to rise, all eyes will be on the two firms and the Minerals Commission in the coming days, as they work to meet the Minister’s deadline and prevent further legal and reputational fallout.
Ibrahim Mahama sues Bright Simons
YEN.com.gh reported that Mahama sued Bright Simons, Vice President of IMANI Africa, for defamation.
Mahama has accused Simons of a series of false and malicious publications that have damaged his reputation and that of his company.
He claimed Simons made defamatory claims in an article titled “Ghana Provides a Lesson in How Not to Nationalise a Gold Mine”, published on his website.
The article claimed his company was in financial distress due to halted operations at the Damang gold mine.
It also suggested that the company’s creditors were concerned about this purported state of affairs.
Source: YEN.com.gh
