Billionaire Ibrahim Mahama’s Damang astroturf takes shape

Construction of an artificial-turf football pitch that Ghanaian billionaire Ibrahim Mahama promised the communities around the Damang gold mine is well underway, six months after his company took control of the mine from Gold Fields Ltd.

A video recently shared on X shows a large playing surface that has been levelled and prepared at Damang, in Ghana’s Western Region, with building materials and heavy equipment on site. The synthetic turf has yet to be laid, and finishing work on the facility is still outstanding.

Mahama made the pledge on April 18, at the ceremony where the government formally handed the Damang concession to his mining contractor, Engineers and Planners, after Gold Fields’ 30-year run at the mine ended. He said the idea came from a request by a young resident. “It says we should build astroturfs for all the communities, which we’re looking to do,” Mahama said at the time.

The pitch is one of several projects Mahama promised Damang at the handover. He also pledged a concrete road linking Damang to Cape Coast within two years and an airport within six months. “I just want to prove that we can invest in ourselves in this country,” he said.

Work has started on the road from Damang to Subri, the first stretch of the planned route to Cape Coast. The airport has taken longer than promised. The six-month deadline passed on Oct. 18, and the plan has grown into a runway about 2 kilometers long, designed to take Boeing 737 and 787 aircraft. Hard rock has slowed the first phase of site levelling, and the two phases are expected to cost at least $80 million.

Ghana’s government declined to renew Gold Fields’ lease at Damang and put the mine out to a tender open only to Ghanaian-owned companies, which Engineers and Planners won. The mine is now run by Damang Gold Mine Ltd., a unit of Mahama’s Dzata Holdings. A $205 million syndicated loan arranged by Stanbic Bank Ghana and Standard Bank Group backed the takeover.

Since April, the new owners have ordered about $250 million of mining equipment and doubled the mine’s full-time workforce to 426 from 207. About 2,300 people work at Damang when contractors are included, and about 62% of permanent staff come from the 10 surrounding communities. Monthly mining volumes rose to 3 million tons in September from 1.4 million tons in May. Mahama is targeting output of 300,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold a year, compared with the 100,000 to 200,000 ounces Damang produced under Gold Fields.

Mahama, the younger brother of Ghanaian President John Mahama, built Engineers and Planners into one of the country’s largest mining contractors. The company also runs mining operations at Gold Fields’ larger Tarkwa mine, and his Dzata Holdings has interests in cement and other industries.