Mining assuming dangerous proportions

Mining for minerals has been going on in Ghana for decades. In fact, the record shows that the then Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC) started operating its Obuasi Mine, which is believed to have some of the world’s largest gold deposits, in 1897. The Obuasi Mine is also among the 10 largest in the world. In 2004, the AGC merged with AngloGold to become AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s second largest gold producer. Other minerals that have been mined extensively in the country are diamond, bauxite and manganese. Under normal circumstances, judging from the volume of minerals taken out of this country since colonial times, Ghana should have been brimming with mineral wealth just like South Africa. But, alas, this is not the case and the search for wealth from the bowels of the earth continues. If in the past only a few well-established mining companies operated in the country under appropriately defined rules and regulations, today the sector has become a free range where mining activities are going on in a lawless and careless manner. There are many factors that have contributed to this state of affairs. First, mining has not brought any visible improvement to the lives of the local people nor the physical development of the communities. Rather, mineral wealth has largely remained the monopoly of the shareholders in Europe, the United States and a few chiefs and local politicians who feast on the crumbs that fall from the table of the millionaires cocooned in the comfort of the major cities of the world. Obuasi, for example, has nothing to show for its accolade as one of the richest gold mines in the world. Meanwhile, Obuasi has made millionaires out of many Europeans, while the local people only enjoy the luxury of being identified with the precious metal while not benefiting from its wealth. Having waited impatiently in vain for decades for the gold wealth to spread and cover them, the local people, mostly the unemployed youth, have decided to go to the depths themselves to take what they could get, damn the risk and legal consequences. In the past, galamsey, as illegal mining is known among the populace, was restricted to a few concessions in the Obuasi area and was carried out discreetly, not with the flagrant impunity we see today. Unfortunately, galamsey is now the norm, not the illegal and clandestine vocation it was years ago. It may still remain illegal, but the spread, the numbers involved and the sophisticated equipment deployed in the business have clothed it with a garb of normality. Those colonialists who were quick to name our coastline the Gold Coast will be astonished to hear that the whole land mass of Ghana is pregnant with gold, from the beaches to the Savanna grassland of the north. First, our governments thought they could flash the galamsey operators from business. When that failed, they introduced a scheme to register and license the small-scale miners, so that their operations could be regulated and supervised, which was a good idea. Strangely, the small-scale miners have refused to operate within the rules and are now operating everywhere, anyhow. Mining generally has its environmental challenges, whether operating legally or otherwise. The obvious ones are forest degradation, water and noise pollution and the destruction of farmlands and crops. At least, while the major mining companies put in efforts to minimise the side effects of their operations, the illegal operators have no such plans and the result is the environmental degradation being experienced all over the country. The local people are beginning to take the law into their own hands to protect their heritage and the country will head for a major civil strife if care is not taken to deal decisively with the menace. A few examples will suffice. About a month ago, the people of Akyem Saaman in the Eastern Region rose up against the operations of the Kibi Goldfield Limited/Solar Mining Group. The residents blamed the mining firm for polluting their source of drinking water — the River Birim, the River Akusu and the River Anoma. They also complained of the removal of the vegetation cover along the banks of the said rivers, resulting in siltation and sedimentation during rainfall, and also the destruction of their cocoa farms through mining activities. Not even a visit by Mr Victor Smith, the Eastern Regional Minister, to calm nerves could satisfy the residents. What it means is that there is potential threat to peace, and this has dangerous consequences. Things were more violent at Gbane in the Talensi-Nabdam District in the Upper West Region where there was a violent confrontation between the youth of the community and workers of Shaanxi Mining Company Limited, a subsidiary of the China Gold Resources Group Company Limited. Four of the Chinese were said to be seriously injured in that confrontation, while mining equipment belonging to the firm was vandalised. The case of the people was that 527 of their compatriots who are farmers had been displaced, while 3,000 economic trees, mostly shea nut trees, had been destroyed. Illegal mining operations are no longer just a threat to the environment but also a breeding ground for hooligans who are prepared to confront lawful authority or even fight among themselves over territory. A case in point was the clash at Tutuka, an Obuasi suburb, among rival galamsey operators which left many of them seriously wounded. A new phenomenon which has muddied the already polluted waters is the arrival of Chinese experts in illegal mining. They do not operate with shovels, pickaxes and pans but deploy bulldozers and other heavy machinery. It appears they operate at the fringes of the law and it seems the police have been compromised and, therefore, cannot do anything. They are not only on the spree, leaving destruction in their path, but also invading the concessions of the mining companies. The latest reports have it that some of these illegal Chinese miners have invaded the concessions of AngloGold Ashanti at Kwanwireso, near Obuasi. Some of them are said to be heavily armed and could cause havoc to anyone trying to destabilise them. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com