Business News of Thursday, 11 March 2010

Source: Bloomberg

Govt Planning to Sell Diamond Mine, Timber Plantation, Sawmill

Ghana plans to sell a diamond mine, a plantation and a sawmill as part of a sale of state assets, the Divestiture Implementation Committee said.

The West African nation aims to sell Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Ltd., based in the Eastern region town of Akwatia, the committee said in a statement in the Accra-based Business and Financial Times today.

The mining concession has 14 million carats of proven gem reserves and 4.6 million carats of probable reserves, it said. It also includes 240 square-kilometers (150 square-miles) of land, according to the statement.

Ghana’s government is also selling Subri Industrial Plantation Ltd., based at Daboase in the Western region. The sale includes a 5,137 hectare plantation, sawmill and kiln.

The deadline for bids is March 31, the committee said. It didn’t say how much it aims to raise from the sales