Draft Regulations For Minerals & Mining Act

Space FM,Sunyani - The Minerals Commission is currently preparing draft regulations to the Minerals and Mining Act, Act 703 of 2006. In this regard, stakeholders in the mining sector have been advised to contribute to the drafting of the document to ensure that it reflects the aspirations of both government and operators in the mining industry.

Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Rita Tani Iddi said this when she paid a familiarization and technical visit to the Ahafo Mines of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL). The visit, the first by the deputy minister to the site, was to acquaint herself with the operations of the mines and to inspect the environment and social responsibility initiatives put together by Newmont for the Ahafo community.

Madam Tani Iddi said government considers operators in the mining industry as partners and added that, it is imperative that stakeholders in the sector such as NGGL contributes to the preparation of the draft regulations to the Mining and Minerals Act.

She commended Newmont for its strict adherence to the health and safety of its workers and surrounding communities, adding that it is imperative that Newmont maintains such leading industry practices and constantly improves them where necessary to meet the changing demands of the mining sector.

Mr. Botchwey of the Mines Inspectorate Division, commenting on the issue of the effects of blasting on structures, said NGGL?s blasting records are within standards and that should not negatively impact on structures outside the buffer around its Subika pit. He said the Division will continue to work with the company to further monitor its blasting activities so as to be able to advise on what measures to take. This was in response to comments by the Deputy Minister about complaints received by her Ministry regarding the effects of blasting on structures in the communities.

The External Affairs Manager of NGGL, Randy Barnes led Madam Tani Iddi to visit some of the social responsibility initiatives of Newmont. These included the Agricultural Improvement and Land Access Programme (AILAP) which is a programme meant to support project impacted people to improve on agricultural productivity in the communities.

The tour also took the Deputy Minister to the two resettlement sites at Ntotoroso and Kenyase where she interacted with some beneficiaries of livelihood programmes implemented by NGGL. The beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to Newmont for the efforts at working with them to improve their livelihoods. They appealed to the visiting Deputy Minister to use hers Office to complement Newmont?s efforts for greater successes.

Mr. Barnes took the Deputy Minister through some of the company?s intervention programmes which are all meant to economically empower people living in the company?s concessionary area. These are the Ahafo Agribusiness Growth Initiative (AAGI), Livelihood Enhancement and Community Empowerment Programme (LEEP) and the Agricultural Improvement and Land Access Programme (AILAP).

According to Mr. Barnes, the objective of AILAP is, among others, to provide agricultural assistance to all compensated farmers directly impacted by the mining project. He said approximately 2,500 farmers have so far benefited from the programme while 57 farmers, groups and contractors have been trained and contracted by Newmont to produce planting materials for sale to the AILAP.

Through AAGI, the External Affairs Manager said 2,204 individuals have been trained in market driven agricultural ventures. He added that in collaboration with the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF), a processing plant will be installed in the area to process chili pepper for export and for local consumption.

The Deputy Minister, who was accompanied by officials of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Minerals Commission, also toured some of Newmont?s mining facilities including the Subika Pit, the Tailings Storage Facility, Water Storage Facility and the Process Plant.

Some officials of Newmont; Mr. Eric Warabae Dontoh, Senior Mine Geologist, Mrs. Victoria Bleppony, Senior Mine Engineer and Mr. Desmond Quansah, Plant Metallurgist took turns to brief the Deputy Minister and her entourage on the various steps in gold mining and the state of the art technology that Newmont is employing at its Ahafo Mine to ensure that her operations are both socially and environmentally responsible.