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Ibrahim Mahama has spent nearly three decades digging gold out of Ghana for someone else. Now he wants to own the mine.
Engineers and Planners Company Limited, the indigenous mining and construction firm founded and led by Mahama in 1997, is among three shortlisted bidders to take over operations at the Damang gold mine in Ghana's Western Region, following the government's decision not to renew the lease of South Africa's Gold Fields after nearly 30 years of operations. The formal handover to the state is scheduled for April 18, 2026.
The three bidders under review by Ghana's Minerals Commission are Engineers and Planners, BCM International and consortium Vortex Resources. Of the three, Engineers and Planners carries the most operational credibility. The company has served as Damang's primary mining contractor for years, giving it detailed knowledge of the mine's geological conditions, production systems and workforce. Gold Fields senior vice president Elliot Twum acknowledged in a November 2025 letter that Engineers and Planners was well positioned to support continued operations depending on the final ownership structure determined for the asset.
Mahama has also moved to back his bid with financing. In February 2026, Engineers and Planners secured a $205 million syndicated facility arranged by Stanbic Bank Ghana and Standard Bank of South Africa, with Ecobank Ghana and Absa Bank Ghana as participating lenders. The five-year senior secured loan, structured in two tranches of $110 million and $95 million, is directed at expanding the company's contract mining operations at both Damang and the Tarkwa mine, also operated by Gold Fields in the Western Region.
Restoring Damang to full production will require significant capital. Gold Fields' own feasibility study estimates the mine could produce between 100,000 and 150,000 ounces of gold annually for at least nine more years, but doing so would require between $500 million and $600 million in fresh investment.
The transaction carries political dimensions that have drawn scrutiny. Mahama is the younger brother of Ghana's president, John Dramani Mahama, who returned to office in January 2025. Policy analyst Bright Simons of IMANI Africa raised concerns about political influence in the process in April 2025, prompting Engineers and Planners to file a defamation suit against him at an Accra High Court. That case is ongoing.
Engineers and Planners argues that its pursuit of Damang predates the current administration, with formal acquisition steps traceable to September 2023 when Gold Fields first asked the company to begin demobilizing its equipment. Rather than withdrawing, Mahama's team responded with a purchase proposal.
Ghana's push to place Damang in indigenous hands fits a broader shift across the country's mining sector. The government has introduced a sliding royalty scale of up to 12 percent, replacing a flat 5 percent rate, alongside stricter local content requirements. That agenda has drawn coordinated diplomatic pushback from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, all of which have warned that higher royalties risk deterring investment.
Ghana has signaled it intends to proceed regardless.
