Ghana Chamber of Mines calls for calm as investigations are completed

The Ghana Chamber of Mines has called for calm as investigations into the tragic deaths of six individuals at the Ahafo Mine site of Newmont Ghana are completed.

“While we await the report from the Minerals Commission’s investigations, we wish to call on all and sundry to be circumspect in commenting or reporting on the matter without recourse to the verified facts,” the Chamber said in a statement on Wednesday.

In the statement the Chamber said it was saddened by the tragic deaths of six individuals at the Ahafo Mine site of Newmont Ghana, on Saturday April 7, 2018, following the collapse of the surface reclaim tunnel roof at the Ahafo Mill Expansion project.

“The Chamber would want to take this opportunity to commiserate with the families, friends, and colleagues of the deceased workers as well as Newmont Ghana. As is usually the case during such mine accidents, investigations by state institutions, particularly the Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission, are undertaken to determine the circumstances that led to the incident,” it said.

“As a Chamber, our members’ principal and most cherished value is the safety of their employees. This underlines the measures and interventions that are instituted to ensure their wellbeing,” it added.

It said safety remained the utmost priority of the mining industry and as such, the Chamber would continue to work with all relevant institutions to ensure that such incidents did not recur in any of the mines.