Edward Kwasi Akuoko
Some small-scale mining companies operating in the Western and Ashanti regions of Ghana have claimed they incurred losses to the tune of about US$3 billion following attacks on their operations by the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce established by President John Mahama to flush out illegal miners.
Edward Kwasi Akuoko, Public Relations Officer of Hansol Mining Company Limited, one of the affected firms, who made this know at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said some unscrupulous persons in some state security agencies had taken undue advantage of the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce functions to rob the small-scale mining firms.
He said the activities of the Taskforce resulted in the death of six Chinese nationals including Jian Feng, Alina Rodriquez Grinan, Xinping Liu, Feiming Mo, Jiansheng Li and Chaohua Li.
“The attacks on our operations include physical assault and manhandling of our Ghanaian and Chinese staff, destruction of some of our property and stealing, as well as looting of our processed gold and cash in both local and foreign currency by some members of the task force”.
He said other forms of unjustified and unwarranted abuses include gross extortion, setting ablaze of some of their site structures and equipment, and in some instances direct shooting of Chinese staff, some of who died in the process.
Mr Akuako said such unfortunate trend, if not halted, could cripple most small-scale mining companies, which have been duly certified by Government through its own regulating agencies to worsen the unemployment situation in the country.
“As a result of these operations, management has sacked a total of 3,000 Ghanaian workers since there will be no money to pay them.”
Mr. Akuako also said government had turned a deaf ear to the numerous calls and concerns raised by major stakeholders in the industry such as the Small Scale Miners Association, the Artisanal Mining Africa Network and Hansol Mining Company.
He said when members of the taskforce raided the company’s sites in the Ashanti region, they took away some kilos of gold worth US$ 450,000, cash, 10 pickups and burnt equipment including two excavators.
Also, he claimed the District Chief Executive for Asankragua, Victor Samuel Meisu, assisted by some NDC constituency executives, raided the Akonta Mining Site in the Western Region and bolted with GH¢70,000.
“In all about 300 excavators and an unknown number of pickups and other equipment cannot be accounted for and they are believed to be in the custody of the taskforce.
The PRO also appealed to President Mahama to intervene and halt such unwarranted attacks on indigenous Ghanaian companies.
“We also call on the Chinese government, all the major political parties, as well as civil society, to take keen interest in the matter since it is now a national issue.”
Hansol Company said it has contributed immensely towards employment generation in the country and overall development of the state.
“Beside the over 4,000 direct Ghanaian labourers we’ve contracted, we paid more than US$1.6 million in direct taxes to Government through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and also contributed about US$ 20 million to the state, representing eight percent of our total investment inflows.”
The company also contributes about 50 percent of total gold purchases made by the state-owned Precious Minerals & Marketing Company (PMMC).
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