We won’t allow any unilateral decision - Government tells AngloGold
The government says it will not allow AngloGold Ashanti Ghana to take any unilateral decision that will impact negatively on workers and the people of Obuasi.
Reacting to the decision of AngloGold to close its mine and sack workers, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, told the Daily Graphic that AngloGold had assured the government that every affected worker would receive a substantial severance allowance.
He said the government was concerned about how the affected workers were going to manage their severance allowances.
He said AngloGold had engaged a financial institution to offer advice to the affected workers on how they could manage their resources.
The minister said another concern of the government was how to secure the integrity of the mines.
He said illegal miners could invade the mines if adequate security was not provided to resist their attempts to enter the mines.
He gave an assurance that the government would deploy security personnel to the mines to ward off the activities of illegal miners.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Fuseini said AngloGold was working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to neutralise the effects of chemicals at the mines.
Background
AngloGold Ashanti Ghana said it would embark on a major retrenchment exercise by August this year.
The exercise, which began last year and saw 430 workers being sent home, is the final phase of downsizing its workforce.
A senior Vice-President of AngloGold Ashanti Ghana, Mr Mark Morcombe, mentioned the rising cost of production, high under-performance of workers and unstable world market prices as some of the factors for the lay-off.
In line with a redesign plan, the company is expected to re-employ a small highly-skilled workforce within two years as it moves from its northern site to a less labour-intensive southern site.
Closure of mine
The closure of the mine at the northern site is to last between 18 and 24 months to make way for the full exploration of the southern part.
The minister said AngloGold would cede the northern site to the government for possible mining in future.
He, therefore, tasked AngloGold to ensure the expeditious recovery of the northern site.
Mine shutdown justified
Alhaji Fuseini said the Obuasi Mine was not performing to satisfaction, as the cost of production was outweighing the profit.
For instance, he said, AngloGold recorded a loss of $200 million last year.
The minister said he had personally visited Obuasi to assess the situation at the mine and held meetings with managers of AngloGold on the developments.
He said there had been consensus to restructure the mine by putting it under care and maintenance.
