By Juliet Aguiar Dugbartey, TakoradiGhana Manganese Company (GMC) has announced plans to invest US$450million in a manganese refinery at Nsuta near Tarkwa, Western Region, in a major step for the country’s drive to add value to its mineral resources. The proposed refinery is expected to boost industrial processing, create thousands of jobs and strengthen the country’s push to move beyond the export of raw minerals. Mr. Sun said the refinery forms a central pillar of GMC’s long-term growth strategy, signalling a deliberate shift from exporting unprocessed manganese ore to developing a fully integrated processing value chain in Ghana. “Our objective is to move beyond mining into industrial processing,” he said. He noted that downstream mineral processing projects are essential to sustaining port growth and enhancing Takoradi’s role as an industrial logistics hub.