Regional planning, as an approach to development planning, in the newly independent nations of the world, is the main subject of this study. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the hypothesis that to achieve a balanced social, economic and physical development the scale of planning must be regional. Since the region is the link between the national and local community, it provides a suitable frame of reference for the balanced integration of both national and local projects. The Volta Basin in the Republic of Ghana in West Africa, is taken as an illustrative case study. The case study focuses attention on the methods used in designing the Volta Basin Regional Plan. The Plan is meant to demonstrate how regional planning can help towards balanced development by giving due consideration simultaneously to all the factors involved in the development process. The approach taken in the study was, first, to discuss the problem in a general way by analyzing the main features of development planning as currently practised in a number of the newly independent nations. The conclusions drawn from this discussion are that: 1) the major problem of most of the new nations is that of a single-resource economy inherited from their former colonial rulers; 2) the approach to development planning as currently practised in these countries takes the form of National Development Plan and tends to concentrate solely on the economic aspects of development and, to some extent, the social aspects, and ignores the physical aspects of development; 3) while development planning is increasingly becoming the function of Central Governments, the tendency is to be concerned with planning at the national level with no regard for development at the regional and local levels; 4) in those countries where some effort is made in terms of regional planning for development, the approach that is adopted is in the form of either multi-purpose river basin development or the strictly economic regional development. As a result of these shortcomings of current development planning in the newly independent nations, it is further concluded that the failure to give due consideration to all the factors involved in the development process, gives rise to imbalanced development in these countries. The imbalanced development takes the form of excessive concentration of population in a few urban centers which are usually piled up with poor untrained labour from the rural areas. The urban centers are notorious for all forms of social disorganization: crime, overcrowding, unemployment, and other social problems. The unbalanced development also takes the form of unplanned distribution of industry and rural services, and poor location of transportation routes, resulting in expensive remedial measures. The defects of current development planning in the new nations seem to be a result of the conception of the nature of development, namely that development is essentially an economic problem and once the economic factor is considered, the other factors involved will take care of themselves. It seems also that the economic conception of the nature of development is a result of the influence and advice of the specialists interested in the problems of development of these countries. A new conception of development that takes into account the social, economic, cultural, psychological and physical components of the entire society, leads to the view that planning for development must be regional. This is because regional planning considers simultaneously all the factors involved in the development process. The study discusses development planning in Ghana in order to outline the main problems of development in Ghana and to provide the background for the consideration of the regional planning needs of the country. As in the case of the other newly independent nations, it is con eluded from the discussion that Ghana inherited a single-resource economy; its approach to development planning is restricted to planning at the national level with no regard for the implications of development at the regional and local levels; and that planning for development is regarded solely as an economic problem. As a result of these facts, it is further concluded that Ghana fails to achieve a balanced development—throughout the country. This leads to an analysis of the Volta Basin Regional Plan to demonstrate how regional planning can help towards the achievement of balanced development by giving due consideration to all factors involved in the development process. Based on the simultaneous consideration of the social, economic and physical factors, it is possible to make proposals that reflect the needs of Ghana in terms of the distribution of population and industry; the location of the main transportation routes; the distribution of rural services and the location of large non-agricultural uses. The following proposals are made to introduce the planning process of survey, analysis, plan, implementation and revaluation, into the regions of Ghana: 1) expanded National Planning Commission; 2) expanded Regional Planning Agencies, and 3) regional plans for the eight Administrative regions of Ghana. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The Volta Basin covers most of the major food producingdistricts of Ghana. Thus said, it is considered as the foodbasket of Ghana. This perception underscores the need toprotect the basins bio-physical environment and resource base.This concern has been mirrored by several initiatives both interms of policy and planning that aim at improving themanagement of the basin’s resource base to enable itspeople depend on it in meeting their livelihoods. Like mostcommunities that lie in the lower reaches of the Volta, thepeople of the South Tongu District have been brought under theimpact of the dam. Even though no extensive study has yet beenconducted to establish the extent of the dam’s impact inthe district, it is widely believed by the locals thatlivelihoods have been impacted by environmental changes. Keycomplaints include, amongst others, tree cover depletion,decline in soil fertility, poor agricultural productivity, lowrainfall and bush fires. At the district level some steps havebeen taken in the form of projects and programmes to addresspoverty and resource management issues, while others areunderway. This study seeks to contribute to the on-goinggeneral discussion concerning poverty and environmentalmanagement in the basin by presenting some perspectives fromfour villages, namely, Torsukpo, Agbogbla, Akato and Alesikpein the South Tongu District. From two perspectives, thesecommunities are considered as homogenous: (i) they are allpredominantlyeweswith respect to ethnic composition, and (ii)subsistence farming features as a key occupation in all thecommunities. Among the range of issues identified in thedistrict, the study discusses mainly conservation (with respectto tree planting), bush fires and co-operative management. Ittreats these issues with focuses on key socio-cultural factors.In the examination of these issues institutional matters suchas tenure are seen as central players in resource managementand are thus given attention. While information gathered hereincontributes generally to deepening knowledge on the prevailingproblems, some recommendations are also offered as possiblesteps to improving resource management and livelihoods in theDistrict. <b>Key words:</b>environment; natural resources; lower volta;local people; livelihood

<p>The Volta Basin covers most of the major food producingdistricts of Ghana. Thus said, it is considered as the foodbasket of Ghana. This perception underscores the need toprotect the basins bio-physical environment and resource base.This concern has been mirrored by several initiatives both interms of policy and planning that aim at improving themanagement of the basin’s resource base to enable itspeople depend on it in meeting their livelihoods. Like mostcommunities that lie in the lower reaches of the Volta, thepeople of the South Tongu District have been brought under theimpact of the dam. Even though no extensive study has yet beenconducted to establish the extent of the dam’s impact inthe district, it is widely believed by the locals thatlivelihoods have been impacted by environmental changes. Keycomplaints include, amongst others, tree cover depletion,decline in soil fertility, poor agricultural productivity, lowrainfall and bush fires. At the district level some steps havebeen taken in the form of projects and programmes to addresspoverty and resource management issues, while others areunderway. This study seeks to contribute to the on-goinggeneral discussion concerning poverty and environmentalmanagement in the basin by presenting some perspectives fromfour villages, namely, Torsukpo, Agbogbla, Akato and Alesikpein the South Tongu District. From two perspectives, thesecommunities are considered as homogenous: (i) they are allpredominantly<i>ewes</i>with respect to ethnic composition, and (ii)subsistence farming features as a key occupation in all thecommunities. Among the range of issues identified in thedistrict, the study discusses mainly conservation (with respectto tree planting), bush fires and co-operative management. Ittreats these issues with focuses on key socio-cultural factors.In the examination of these issues institutional matters suchas tenure are seen as central players in resource managementand are thus given attention. While information gathered hereincontributes generally to deepening knowledge on the prevailingproblems, some recommendations are also offered as possiblesteps to improving resource management and livelihoods in theDistrict.</p><p><b>Key words:</b>environment; natural resources; lower volta;local people; livelihood</p>

Within the framework of this research, the complex geological history of the Pan African-Volta basin has been systematically reconstructed. Based on a broad review of literature and new data, 5 stages of geological-tectonic development have been identified. For the first time a systematic review of the mineral potential of the Pan-African Volta Basin was executed. Known and potentially existing mineralization have been related to the geotectonic history and metallogenetic conclusions have been drawn. Based on the findings of this research, the folded thrust belt located at the eastern rim of the Volta basin has been identified as the most prospective area for the ultramafic rocks with chromite, nickel mineralization and PGEs, hydrothermal gold and banded iron formation (BIF) but this will require further work.

Within the framework of this research, the complex geological history of the Pan African-Volta basin has been systematically reconstructed. Based on a broad review of literature and new data, 5 stages of geological-tectonic development have been identified. For the first time a systematic review of the mineral potential of the Pan-African Volta Basin was executed. Known and potentially existing mineralization have been related to the geotectonic history and metallogenetic conclusions have been drawn. Based on the findings of this research, the folded thrust belt located at the eastern rim of the Volta basin has been identified as the most prospective area for the ultramafic rocks with chromite, nickel mineralization and PGEs, hydrothermal gold and banded iron formation (BIF) but this will require further work.:Table of contents Table of contents iii List of tables v List of figures 1 Introduction 5 Summary of work done 6 Acknowledgements 6 1 In the Geology and regional geotectonic development of the West African Shield 7 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 The basement of the Proterozoic sedimentary platform cover 9 1.3 Connection of West African Shield to Brazil 10 1.4 The Neoproterozoic sedimentary sequence and the extent of the Volta Basin 13 1.4.1 Introduction 13 1.4.2 The Neoproterozoic Sedimentary Sequence 15 1.5 The Pan-African Mobile Belt 23 1.5.1 The Buem Fold and thrust belt 23 1.5.2 New defined units 30 1.6 Interpretation of the deep structure of the Volta Basin 35 1.7 Metallic Minerals 37 1.7.1 Introduction 37 1.7.2 Iron (Fe) 39 1.7.3 Aluminium (Al) 46 1.7.4 Manganese (Mn) 50 1.7.5 Lead (Pb) 52 1.7.6 Copper (Cu) 55 1.7.7 Mineralisation related to ultramafic rocks 57 1.7.8 Gold (Au) 69 1.7.9 Tantalum (Ta) 72 1.7.10 Zirconium (Zr) 73 1.7.11 Heavy minerals in sands of Paleochannels 76 1.8 Non-metallic minerals 83 1.8.1 Introduction 83 1.8.2 Limestone (CaCO3) 84 1.8.3 Magnesite (MgCO3) 91 1.8.4 Barite (BaSO4) 93 1.8.5 Diamonds 97 1.8.6 Bitumen 100 1.9 Mineral Prediction with advangeo® Prediction Software 102 2 Minerogeny 109 2.1 Mineralisation controls and indicators 109 2.1.1 Geochemical Properties of selected stratigraphic units 109 2.1.2 Intrusive rocks 114 2.1.3 Volcanic rocks 118 2.1.4 Fault structural controls 119 2.1.5 Reactive Rocks 121 2.1.6 Other sedimentary controls: placers and paleoplacers 122 2.1.7 Laterites 122 2.1.8 Control of diamond occurrences 132 2.2 Key stages of metallogenic development 132 3 Discussion and recommendations 136 3.1 Recommendations 138 4 List of References 139 5 Appendices 144 5.1.1 Sample G113RK1 144 5.1.2 Sample G109RK1 145 5.1.3 Sample G116RK1 147 5.1.4 Sample G121RK1 149 5.1.5 Sample G121RK2 151 5.1.6 Sample G121RK3 152 5.1.7 Sample G131RK1 154 5.1.8 Sample G144RK2 155 5.1.9 Sample G145RK1 156 5.1.10 Sample G147RK1 157 5.2 Thin Sections 159 5.3 Deep drilling Data 174 5.4 Geophysical Datasets 176 5.5 Geochemical properties of volcanic rocks 181 5.6 Regional Geochemical Datasets (MSSP) 186 5.6.1 Methodology of data processing 188 5.7 Geochemical analysis – Electronic Dump 190 5.8 Geochemical properties of selected geo-tectonic units 190 5.8.1 Epicratonic basin 190 5.8.2 Foreland Basin 195 5.8.3 Thrusted continental margin 202