Regulatory Structures and Challenges to Developmental Extractives

Ghana’s large natural resource endowment of various minerals as well as oil is well known. The country has been mining gold for over a century, ranking second in production in Africa, and has also undergone regulatory transformations resulting in significant improvement in the mining sector. This chapter seeks to share the experience of a regulator and offers some perspectives on the purpose, content, and challenges of the practical regulation of an extractives sector in a lower-middle-income economy. The chapter looks at both the design and content of a regulatory system and throws light on the practical challenges (technical and political) of implementation. In light of the increasing allure of resource nationalism in recent times, the chapter also takes a brief navigation into the manner in which relationships are established and maintained by the regulatory bodies with both large multinational and small artisanal mining operations.