Towards iron & steel industry in Ghana
The Integrated Iron & Steel Commission (IISC) which was established in the 1970's to study and co-ordinate a development programme for the iron and steel industry has now been absorbed by the newly formed Minerals Commission. Just before this change, the IISC through its chairman, Dr R.P. Baffour published highlights of its work. Our Industrial Correspondent provides a summary of this publication and offers some analytical comments.Ghana's known reserves of iron ore is not a secret. Nearly 800 million tons are known to occur in the Opon Mansi district in the Western region. To bring these deposits to development, an Inte- grated Iron and Steel Commission was set up and charged with the responsibility to co-ordinate local and international efforts into survey, research, tests to draw up a programme for the exploitation and utilization of this re- source and eventually develop it into a commercial venture.
In 1976, an agreement was signed between the IISC and the German Company Krupps Industries to initiate work on the project. This opened the way for the company to begin a feasibility study of the project. Various Ghanaian institutions, notably the Geological Survey Department collaborated with the German group for nearly three years.
In 1979, Krupps Industries submit- ted twelve volumes of reports to the IISC. Their recommendations were extensive although contrary to expectations, it did not intend to create an 'integrated' industry as such because there was no provision for the manufacture of steel. The Krupps Report reported that the Opon Mansi iron ore reserves contain only 48% of iron which is very low compared to other deposits in West Africa. According to the report, Ghana's iron ore consists of the reddish brown Ferric Oxide or Haematite intimately associated with bauxite and silica as impurities.
Nevertheless, Krupps Industries were prepared to extract the iron by an electric smelting process to produce 'pig iron' a hard, brittle form of un- refined impure iron. If the industry was intended to be 'integrated', the pig iron would then have been converted into steel as is the normal procedure. And it should have been done right here in Ghana. As it is, the Krupps investigators did not recommend steel production. Instead the pig iron would be shipped to Krupps industrial plants in Germany and elsewhere. Dr R.P Baffour's publication did not state a what price Krupps intended to buy the pig iron.
Furthermore, Krupps decided introduce an innovation into Ghana iron production, a novel method for re-processing the 'slag' or impurities from the smelter to field fertiliser clinker and alumina is believed to have been invented by Polish scientists Krakow University. Krupps planned to incorporate this plant into the design for the project, with the clause that Poles can buy for themselves. alumina they claim they could separate from the slag.
The operation of the whole project as projected by the Krupps Report is meant to consume, (a) I million tons of iron ore to be mined at Wususo in the Western region, (b) 45,000 tons of limestone to be quarried at Nauli also in the Western region, (c) 100,000 tons of charcoal to be derived from a forest reserve at Benso in the Wassa district, (d) 15,000 tons of salt-panned caustic soda from Elmina. The smelter itself was proposed to be sited at Eshiem near Sekondi.
All these, according to the report, was estimated to produce 200,000 tons of pig iron per year, 430,000 tons of clinker per year, 85,000 tons of alumina per year and 100,000 tons of low grade phosphate fertiliser per year, which, short of further costly enrichment may not be of any use to any farmer.
The Krupps Report estimated that the smelter would require 130 mega- watts of electric power to operate its three furnaces, however, the IISC realised that the project could not draw such an amount of power from the national grid. Looking for alternative energy supplies, the choice fell on the possible utilisation of natural gas offshore which the Phillips Petroleum could tap from two of its test wells at Dixcove near Cape Three Points. Twenty cubic feet of gas could generate nearly 300 megawatts of electric power. The then government of the Peoples National Party (PNP) was re- quested by IISC to seek negotiations with the American oil companies to arrange a deal for the supply of the fuel.
It was at this stage that the project was pushed into the dirty waters of politics. According to IISC publication. "The PNP government of Hilla Limann took a negative view of the Krupps Report and recommendations. Instead of appointing an international panel of experts to study and advise on the contents and viability of the Report, they decided to appoint a local team of detectives to investigate the activities of the IISC Chairman, Baffour himself..." (Dr R.P. Baffour was an opposing presidential candidate to Limann in the 1979 elections!) "...Ours was a paper exercise...an exercise in futility and time wasting..." continued the IISC publication.
The true fact is that the PNP govern- ment did look at the Krupps Report and suggested that one smelter out of the proposed three together with the Polish slag reprocessing plant be scrapped in order to reduce the power requirements. This became the cause of the bitterness and a feeling of let-down which Dr R.P. Baffour's publication effused and for that he thinks he has been politically sacrificed. The main purpose of this publication was apparently to whip up sympathy and court the PNDC to implement the Krupps recommendation. His cause was taken up by the Ghanaian Times whose two editorials on the project ascribed the apparent stalemate on the project to "saboteurs" and "nation wreckers".
There are, however, major criticisms of the Krupps recommendations. It in- tended to use charcoal as a reducing agent in the smelting process which raises some doubts technically. In all iron ore processing plants, carbon in the form of coke obtainable from coal is used as the reducing agent. Coke is hard, not porous, does not contain high levels of sulphur and has been proved to be a strong agent for reducing iron ore to metallic iron. Wood charcoal, on the other hand, is soft, highly porous and contains a lot of sulphur despite it being another form of carbon and has unproved properties as a reducing agent.
Even if it was found to be suitable, it is likely it will burn so fast that the whole western region forest reserves could be denuded in a short time. Imported coal from Nigeria, for instance, could have been considered as a possible alternative. Recovery of alumina and clinker from the bauxite and calcium silicate impurities may be technically feasible, although what the quality of the products will be has not been ascertained.
The unavailability of natural gas to power the proposed iron smelter operation is the real cause of the stalemate. Ghana's hydrocarbon fuel is still officially not on steam and it seems impractical for two test wells only to be tapped for the iron project. A spokesman of the Ministry of Fuel and Power admitted that "the implementation of the project was facing major hurdles, notably the source of fuel and source of funds". The spokesman added that "a ministerial committee was studying all possible options and its decision would be crucial in saving or killing off the project."
One notable fact is that several West African countries are developing iron industries of one kind or another, most of which have higher grade ores than what has been reported for the Opon Mansi deposits. Gabon has a 500 million tons reserves with 65% grade in the north east of the country, and in Angola, new mines are opening up at Kassala-Kitung which is capable of producing 1.1 million tons deposits at Faleme. In the Ivory Coast, iron ore deposits at Mount Klahoyo and Mount Bangola near the border with Liberia are said to be of very high grade.
There is also the Itakpe iron ore mines in Kwara State Nigeria, while Mauritania's 67% grade is being produced at a rate of 15 million tons per year. The world's market for iron and steel is very depressed. It might be better for Ghana to take her time, obtain sufficient power sources, and actually go for integrated industry which would produce steel, which has even a large domestic market. Signifi- cantly, Krupps Industries has shares in most of the West African iron indus- tries: 23% in Senegal's iron mining company, 10% in Cameroonian iron works, to mention a few.
Maybe Krupps has long term ambitions in Opon Mansi. Still, it is important for Dr R.P. Baffour to cast politics aside and take a second closer look at the Krupps recommendations instead of blaming his political opponents who are already forgotten in the political wilderness.
The Krupps report included an alumina processing plant but was scrapped in the subsequent recommendations.
