Apply In-Person:

1. To Apply for Prospecting License (PL) in Ghana , the applicant must go to the Minerals Commission Office contact link
2. The applicant should obtain the application form.
3. To fill in the form, the applicant will need to provide some general details mentioned in the “Required Information” section below.
4. Then, fill in the number and date of the valid clearance certificate of payment of mining dues/ If on the date of application the applicant does not hold a prospecting licence, it should be stated whether an affidavit to this effect has been provided to the satisfaction of the State Government.
5. Select the mineral or minerals which the applicant intends to prospect.
6. Fill in the period for which the prospecting licence is required.
7. Provide details of the extent of the area the applicant wants to prospect.
8. Also provide details of the area in respect of which prospecting licence is required.
9. Details regarding surface rights over the area for which prospecting licence is required/ the written consent of owner and/or occupier of the land for undertaking prospecting operations must also be given.
10. Then, give a brief description of the area with Particular reference to: situation of the area in respect to natural features, name of the village and the khasra number (in case of village) or the name of the working circle, the range and the felling series (in case of forest area)
11. For areas where no forest maps or cadastral maps are available, a sketch plan should be submitted on scale showing the area applied for together with boundary, if any, of any other existing mining lease or prospecting license area if the area applied for has any common point or line with the boundaries of existing prospecting license or mining lease areas.
12. In case a cadastral map of the area is available, the area on this map should be marked showing the name of the village, Khasra number and area in hectares of each field and part thereof (the area applied for shall cover whole survey numbers).
13. In the case of forest maps, the area should be marked on the map showing the range and felling series.
14. In case neither cadastral nor forest maps are available, the area should be marked on sketch plan drawn to scale showing all important surface and natural features, the dimensions of the lines forming the boundary of the area and the bearing and distance of all corner points from any important, prominent and fixed point or points.
15. An affidavit, that the up-to-date income tax returns, as prescribed under the Income Tax Act, 1961, has been filed, and tax due, including the tax on account of self-assessment has been paid.
16. Particulars of the areas mineral-wise within the jurisdiction of the State Government for which the applicant or any person joint in interest with him: Already holds under prospecting licence, already applied for but not granted; Being applied for simultaneously.
17. Nature of joint in interest, if any.
18. If the applicants intend to supervise the works, their previous experience of prospecting and mining should be explained/ if they intend to appoint a manager, the name of manager, his qualifications, nature and extent of his previous experience should be specified and his consent letter should be attached.
19. Financial resources details.
20. Particulars of receipted treasury challan attached.
21. The completed Form B needs to be signed by the applicant and the witnesses and submitted to the regional Controller of Mines (address mentioned in ‘Office Locations & Contacts’ below)
22. Along with the form, attested copies of relevant documents (as listed in the “Required Documents” section of this page) and a Demand Draft of GHS. 500/- drawn on any nationalized bank, in favour of chief executive Officer, IBM, (name of concerned region) must also be submitted to the office.
23. Payment of appropriate fees should be made and that can be found under the "Fees" section of this page.
24. The entire process will take about 90 days to complete.

• Completed application form
• Certified copies of documents of incorporation that show the applicant is a body incorporated under the company’s act, 1963 (Act 179)
• Certified copy of the company’s regulations and details of shareholding and directors
• Specify the size, number of cadastral blocks and the cadastral co-ordinates delineating the area being applied for (site plan)
• Particulars of the qualifications and experience of the technical team in charge of the reconnaissance operations
• Work programme describing the scope and type of the work to be conducted, including the expenditure on reconnaissance
• Particulars of the financial resources available to the applicant for the proposed reconnaissance operations, and
• Provide residence of payment of the applicable fees
• Cadastral search report

Location: Accra
Address: The chief executive
Minerals commission
12 switchback road residential area,
Cantonments
P.O. Box M248
Accra- Ghana.
Digital address: GL-060-113
Phone number: +233 302 771318
Fax number: +233 302 773324
Email id: info@mincom.gov.gh /enquiries@mincom.gov.gh
Contact link
Location link

• Prospecting license may only be granted to a Ghanaian citizen.
• Applicant must be at least 18 years old and must be registered by the office of the minerals commission in an area designated for small-scale mining operations.

• The fee for this procedure has to be paid as per the authority’s request.

• Prospecting license validity is for 3 years.

Please attach documents that can be used by people. E.g. links

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

• The entire process will take about 90 days to complete.

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

• The parliament of Ghana enacted the minerals commission Act, 1993 (Act 450).

• Project Details
• Details of User Agency
• Details of Person Making Application
• Details of approvals under the Forest (Conservation) Act , 1980 accorded in the past
• Status of compliance to conditions stipulated in the previous approvals
• Details of payments made in respect of the approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act , 1980 accorded in the past
• Details of the forest land returned back to the State Forest Department or any other Authority from the forest land diverted in favour of the user agency
• Details of land required for the Project
• Details of proposal seeking prior approval of Central Government under the Act for diversion of forest land for the Project already submitted in the past
• Details of forest land proposed to be diverted
• Maps of forest land proposed to be diverted
• Justification for locating the Project in forest land and details of alternatives examined
• Employment likely to be generated
• Displacement of People due to the Project, if any
• Details of Cost-Benefit analysis for the Project
• Status of Environmental Clearance
• Status of Wildlife Clearance
• Applicability of special provisions governing Scheduled Areas
• Status of settlement of rights under the Forest Rights Act,2006 on the forest land proposed to be diverted
• Details of land identified for Compensatory Afforestation
• Mining Details
• Details of grant/renewal of mining lease in the past
• Details of Mining Plan
• Details of prospecting undertaken to assess mineral reserves
• Details of extension (if any) of original prospecting licence issued in the past
• Brief details of prospecting activities undertaken in the mining lease
• Details of bore holes drilled for prospecting
• Estimated Reserve along with accuracy and confidence level
• Details of approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act,1980 obtained for undertaking prospecting activities in the forest land located in the mining lease
• Mineral wise details
• Additional enclosures Details

• A mining licence gives the licence holder the sole right to mine for specified minerals.
• Also, mining without licence is illegal and likely to attract a penalty of up to GHs 25,000 per hectare or two years imprisonment or both.

• Prospecting license (PL) means a license granted for the purpose of undertaking “prospecting operations” with a view to exploring, locating or proving mineral deposits.

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
E.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

Place some external links which might help.

More information which might help people