Ghana reportedly threatened to impose sanctions on three multinational mining companies if they failed to include local contractors in domestic mining operations by December.

The move is in line with a broader push by African governments to increase domestic value extraction from mineral resources.

South African company AngloGold Ashanti, US firm Newmont Mining, and China’s Zijin received the directive from authorities between last October and January, Reuters reported. Newmont requested to comply with the directive by 2027, while AngloGold Ashanti said it was in the process of attaining full compliance by the end of this year.

In countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, the push to develop local mineral value chains has taken the tone of negotiating higher equity stakes in mining projects for the government, accompanied by threats of seizures and hostile takeovers.