Policy analyst and Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has questioned the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources’ claim that global lithium prices have fallen sharply — a key argument used to defend the government’s decision to reduce Ghana’s lithium royalty rate from 10 percent to 5 percent.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr. Simons described the Ministry’s figures as misleading, asserting that global lithium prices have actually increased rather than declined.

“When the Agreement went to Parliament in August 2024, the price of lithium was about $780… today, it is around $990,” Simons noted, disputing the Ministry’s claim that prices had dropped from over $3,000 to roughly $630 per tonne.

The royalty reduction applies to the Ewoyaa lithium project, operated by Atlantic Lithium, which signed an initial mining lease with the government in October 2023. That agreement used a spodumene 6% Li₂O CIF China benchmark of approximately US$2,200 per tonne, projecting a 19-month payback period with gross margins between 62 and 76 percent and a net margin of about 35 percent.

Simons argued that even at current prices, the project would still yield strong returns — around 30 percent gross profit per tonne — rendering the royalty cut unnecessary and economically unsound.

The revised lease, which the Ministry says is meant to protect the project’s viability, has been forwarded to Parliament for approval. However, critics note that no updated feasibility study or profitability analysis has been released to justify the downward adjustment.

Civil society organizations, including IMANI Africa, have since raised concerns about transparency and accountability, urging the government to make the full financial details of the revised deal public before parliamentary approval.