ANGLOGOLD LAYS OFF WORKERS

TORY: STEPHEN DARKO & ATO KEELSON
Majority of workers at the Iduaprim mining concession of ANGLOGOLD Ashanti, near Tarkwa in the Western region have been asked to proceed on compulsory leave.

The paper gathered that the measure by ANGLOGOLD is to enable the company match the reduction in its operations following the recent shut down of its Iduaprim facility by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Anglogold_Ashanti
“Most of our colleagues have been asked to go home as a result of the ban. I can count of about 100 of us working in Iduaprim who have been asked to proceed on compulsory leave because we cannot be paid any longer.

…But my concern is that some of us (workers) on a number of occasions drew the attention of the company about what was going on in the area as far as this project was concerned, but they would not listen to us,” stated one of the workers of the company who agreed to speak to Today on strict condition of anonymity.

The affected workers, the paper found out, were asked to proceed on an immediate leave pending when its license to resume operations on the Iduaprim concession would be restored by the EPA.

The development, however, gives credence to Wacam, a mining advocacy non-governmental organisation, which earlier published a report of water analysis which revealed that 250 rivers in Tarkwa and Obuasi mining areas have been polluted by operations of ANGLOGOLD.

Last week the EPA directed ANGLOGOLD Ashanti Iduaprim Limited (AAIL) to cease operation at two of its Iduaprim mining facilities after the company was found culpable of polluting water bodies and the environment through the deposit of mine wastes materials into block 2 and 3 of its Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) at Iduaprim which were not properly constructed.

With the EPA's order as Today's findings established, the company made it clear to the affected workers that it could no longer afford their salaries and other allowances. Tailings materials are harmful liquid mining spillage that has harmful effects on areas and the people living in the affected area.

In a telephone interview, ANGLOGOLD Communication Chief, John Owusu, although corroborated Today's findings that the company's two facilities were shut down on the orders of the EPA; however he denied flatly that the company had laid off workers who had been affected by the closure.

“There is no iota of truth in the story; we have not asked any of the workers to proceed on a compulsory leave. In fact this is a fallacy; nothing but a complete falsehood. This is once again a fallacy,” Mr Owusu bluntly stated.

According to him, the company is taking practical steps to comply with the directives and instructions of the EPA to resolve the matter amicably.

The closure of operations of the AAIL by the EPA comes as a result of myriad of complaints by the communities in the catchment area.

Residents of the catchment area have constantly been reminding ANGLOGOLD of how mine wastes and rock deposits were polluting water bodies of the area and how indiscriminate shooting among other illegal activities by the gold mining company were affecting residents.

The suspension, according to mining regulations, means that AAIL can no longer extract gold from the area. It has also been asked to remove all tailings discharging facilities, unless otherwise permitted by the EPA.

However, AAIL in a knee-jerk reaction last week, embarked on a futile public relations gimmick suggesting that the company decided on its own accord to cease temporal operation at its Iduaprim catchment area.

Heads of the AAIL project, Today's findings revealed, have also been quizzed by their superiors for denting the image of the company and letting the company lose lump sum of money as a result of their negligence and misjudgments.

Besides, the EPA accused AAIL of showing gross disregard to the nation's environmental laws on countless occasions, a situation which compelled the EPA to ban all activities of AAIL in the affected areas.

In a letter dated March 5, 2010 and sighted by Today the EPA directed AAIL to submit a fresh application to obtain an environmental permit to construct a new tailing facility that would be able to last till the end of the entire project.

The AAIL was also directed “to submit to EPA, a comprehensive report on water requirement within one month from the date of the enforcement notice; provide within one month from the date of enforcement notice an action plan for treatment of excess process water to meet EPA's sector specific effluent quality guidelines for discharge into water bodies; …the company should engage a third party acceptable to the agency to conduct independent requisite studies with regard to surface and ground water quality within the catchment communities and submit monthly reports to the agency,” portions of the letter stated.

AAIL was further directed, in the interim, to initiate action to assess and augment the potable water needs of the catchment communities within two months from the date of the enforcement notice and also submit a report on the displaced farmers from Tebrebie community as a result of AAIL's operations with requisite strategic interventions.

Report monitored by Today from Iduaprim indicates that the EPA's ban has adversely affected operations of ANGLOGOLD Ashanti with the company's operations in the area grinding to a halt.

However, grapevine sources within the top echelon of the EPA over the weekend whispered to the paper that if all should go according to plan, EPA shall in no time, constitute a committee to thoroughly investigate the concerns of the community in the area and possibly fine AAIL.