PROVIDE SECURITY IN ANGLOGOLD CONCESSIONS ....(Page 39)

Story: George Ernest Asare, Obuasi

THE General Secretary of the Ghana Mines Workers Union, Prince Ankrah, has called on the government to consider providing security in Anglogold Ashanti concessions to complement the efforts of the company’s security in combating the activities of illegal miners, known in local parlance as “galamsey” operators.
He said the union might be compelled to emabrk on an industrial action to drum home the threat they faced in their work and the need for the authorities to take measures to address it.
He said considering the important role that AngloGold played towards sustainable socio-economic development in the country, and the fact that its security apparatus was inadequate to meet the activities of the galamsey operators, it would not be out of place for the government to come in to support.
Addressing journalists after 37 miners who were trapped 4,000 feet deep in the Adansi Shaft of the Obuasi Mines had been rescued, Mr Ankrah expressed concern about the safety of the miners, specially the physical and mental torture they went through any time they were attacked and threatened by the fully armed galamsey operators in the course of their operations underground.
In an attempt to steal cables at the concession of AngloGold Ashanti last Thursday, a gang of illegal miners set fire to electrical cables that connected the Adansi Shaft and succeeded in causing the shaft to break down, making it impossible for the 37 miners who were at the time 4,000 feet in the deep mines to come out.
The traumatised miners have been given days off to recover from the shock they went through.
The incident, which occurred around 2 p.m. on January 4, 2008, created panic among the family members of the trapped miners and the general public and it was not until about 10.40 p.m. that they were finally rescued after the management had been able to restore power to the mines.
Apart from a number of cables that were destroyed as a result of the fire that triggered off, about 20 transformers were also set ablaze, making it impossible for any electrical equipment at the northern section of the mines to function.
The facilities destroyed were estimated at $1 million, and it was also estimated that the loss to the company in terms of production between last Thursday when the incident occurred and Sunday when production resumed was estimated at $1 million.
Mr Ankrah said the miners could not continue to risk their lives to support the national economy to grow, while a few disgruntled individuals always had a field day through illegal mining.
He said the time had come for the government to intervene by using state machinery to flush out the illegal miners.
“The industrial action we would embark upon is not about the issue of pay, but a serious problem concerning the safety of the miners,” he stressed, adding that “the interference of the ‘galamseyers’ in the operations of the miners is now getting out of hand, and it is time the government stepped in to restore sanity for the miners to go about their lawful duties”.
Earlier the outgoing General Manager for Sustainable Development of AngloGold Ashanti, Mr Yiadom Boakye Amponsah, had told journalists that efforts to ward off the illegal mines over the years had not yielded any positive results.
He said the company had initiated viable employment programmes in some communities as a way of empowering the youth economically.
He said apart from projects such as classrooms, hospitals, roads and bridges and free supply of power and the implementation of the malarial control programme to reduce the rate of malarial infection within the Obuasi municipality and its environs, the company had also introduced aqua culture, gold jewellery, garment, bricks and lime projects to enhance income generation among the youth.
Mr Amponsah said the company was facilitating arrangements for the ‘galamseyers’ to acquire their own concession to enable them to undertake small-scale mining.
He said with such initiatives, it was their expectation that galamsey activities on their concession would end to create a conducive atmosphere for the miners to operate.