Gold Fields' community investments do not match profits - Apinto Council

The Apinto Divisional Council has called for a review of investments made by mining companies in host communities, arguing that current contributions do not match the value generated from their lands.

The Council said its position was shaped by new information about the profitability of mining operations, particularly after learning that Gold Fields Ghana Limited recorded $437 million in annual profits, while its community investments accounted for less than 1% annually.

Speaking at a press conference, the Gyasehene of the Apinto Divisional Council, Dr Nana Adarkwa Bediako III, said previous engagements with the mining company were based on limited knowledge of its financial performance. However, he said the situation had changed after gaining a clearer picture of the revenues generated.

“Before I realised that Goldfields earned 437 million dollars in a year and community investment is less than one percent, I didn’t know that,” he said.

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He said the community was now questioning whether the benefits it receives were proportionate to the profits made from resources extracted from its lands.

He also cited an example in which the community received three bridges valued at about GH¢5 million, despite the scale of profits generated by mining activities.

Speaking on behalf of the Council, he said the demand was not an attack on mining companies but a call for a fairer partnership between mining firms, the government and host communities.

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“It’s not a stabbing in the back. It is rethinking based on the reality of what we thought the company was making and what we now know it is making on our land,” he said.

The Apinto Divisional Council also criticised the government’s handling of mining revenues, claiming that while the state received significant royalties from mining companies, some host communities had not benefited from visible development projects.

DR/MA