Re-Grant forest permit into Bowiye Forest Reserve - Western Goldfields appeals to Akufo-Addo

Western Goldfields Limited, a defunct gold mining in Takoradi of the Western Region has appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to impress upon the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. John Peter Amewu to urgently re-grant the company environmental forest access permit into the Bowiye Range Forest Reserve to mine gold.

According to the company, it request becomes necessary because the coming back of the company will adversely generate employment for the teeming unemployed youth which hitherto will complement President Akufo-Addo's vision to create direct and indirect jobs for Ghanaians in order to eliminate poverty in the country.

Speaking in an interview with Today via telephone yesterday, Managing Director of Western Goldfields Limited, Mr. Ralph Ananga noted that the company which the Minerals Commission of Ghana and Ministry of Lands and Forestry granted the forest access permit in 1989 to prospect the gold in the Bowiye Range Forest Reserve has been banned.

"We are the only wholly Ghanaian owned gold mining company working in the forest reserve in Ghana from 1989, that is, the Bowiye Range Forest Reserve.

"In January 1999 and not in the 1992 as claimed by the former Technical Director in-charge of Mining at the Ministry of Lands, Mr. Simon Atebiya, the sector ministry and Forestry Commission came out witb an orchestrated seventeen (17) new applicants of the mining companies that have been granted forest access permits at the ministerial level to mine in the country's forest reserves for which the Western Goldfields was side-lined," he lamented.

Mr. Ananga pointed out that this was an increase of three from the previous fourteen (14) new applicants of the mining companies that were granted the forest access permits in 1997.

He indicated that in 1997, government of Ghana came out with a new review guidelines or laws in working in working in the forest reserves.

According to him, the review laws was designed when the ban in working in the forest reserves were lifted, saying that the seventeen new applicants of the mining companies granted their forest access permits to mine in the reserves.

He bemoaned that the Western Goldfields Limited was left out of the shortlisted mining companies, the worrying development which according to him, has collapsed the company for the past 23 years now, making hundreds of workers lost their job.

To this end, the visibly worried Ralph Ananga made a passionate appeal to President Akufo-Addo to come to the aid of the company.