Ghanaian billionaire Ibrahim Mahama, the president's brother, seeks $740 million from Gold Fields

Ghanaian billionaire Ibrahim Mahama's Engineers and Planners is pressing an arbitration claim of more than $700 million against Gold Fields Ltd., as Ghana's government signaled that the South African miner may be allowed to keep its Tarkwa gold mine when its leases run out next year.

Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Ghana's minister for lands and natural resources, said in an interview that large mines with many years of life left may be better run by international companies that can raise the money and take on the risk.

"It's not a policy of government to go and take a mine from any foreign companies," Buah said, referring to mines that have taken years to build. He said Ghanaians would get "clear opportunities in the case of marginal fields or something like that."

The comments improve Gold Fields' chances of keeping Tarkwa, six months after the company handed its smaller Damang mine back to the state and Mahama's company won it in a tender. Mahama is the younger brother of President John Mahama.

A $740 million claim

Engineers and Planners, known as E&P, has worked at Gold Fields' Ghana mines as a contractor for more than 20 years, providing drilling, blasting, loading and hauling. It still holds the mining contract at Tarkwa.

The company is seeking $474.9 million over its work at Tarkwa and $264.7 million over Damang, about $740 million in all, for what it says was underpayment. E&P began a formal dispute process in March and has since started arbitration, which is being held in Ghana rather than before an international tribunal.

Gold Fields rejects the claims. The company said in March that it "disagrees with E&P's position" and has said it is committed to settling the matter in an orderly way while keeping Tarkwa running. E&P said in April that it was "looking forward to an amicable resolution."

Mahama, who is E&P's chief executive, is also in a fight over a separate gold project in northern Ghana. In July, an investor in the Black Volta project accused E&P of running an espionage campaign to take control of it. E&P denies the accusations.

Tarkwa leases expire in April

Gold Fields Ghana, which is 90% owned by Gold Fields and holds Tarkwa, applied early to renew the mine's five leases, which are due for renewal in April 2027. The company has put a 20-year plan for the mine before the authorities. Tarkwa is Gold Fields' second-largest source of gold, and the company has described the mine's future as a material uncertainty for investors.

Mike Fraser, Gold Fields' chief executive, said in August that the company "will do whatever is required, including under law, to protect the rights that we have available to our shareholders."

Since President Mahama returned to power in January 2025, Ghana has replaced the near-automatic renewal of foreign-held mining rights with case-by-case reviews. Parliament recently ratified lease extensions for Australia's Perseus Mining Ltd. and China's Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining Co. Buah expects lawmakers to pass revised mining legislation by the end of the year that would shorten leases, give the government more say over renewals and end agreements that lock in fiscal terms.

An $80 million airstrip at Damang

Gold Fields' Damang lease expired in April 2025, and the government granted a one-year extension before putting the mine out to a tender open only to Ghanaian-owned companies. E&P won and took over the mine at a handover ceremony on April 18, when Mahama promised that "within six months, Damang will have an airport."

The airstrip will cost at least $80 million, Ramy Oboro, community relations manager at the Damang mine, said on Thursday. The first phase covers levelling the land, and the second covers additional facilities, equipment and electrical systems.

Speaking on a radio program in Tarkwa, Oboro said the two phases are "going to cost us not less than 80 million dollars."

"I think it will even go beyond that," he said.