Mining Jobs Reduced In 2017

Mining companies under the Ghana Chamber of Mines directly created 10,503 jobs in 2017.

This is was a drop from 11,628 in 2016, the Ghana Chamber of Mines noted in a report.

Out of the 10,503 direct employees, 159 were expatriates, and the remaining 10,344 were Ghanaians.

The reduction in the industry's workforce has been attributed mainly to the limited labour rationalisation measures undertaken by Golden Star Resources and Abosso Goldfields Limited.4

The two have shifted from owner based mining to contract mining.

“The two mines operated by Golden Star Resources, Golden Star Wassa Limited and Golden Star Bogoso Prestea Limited, will transition into solely mechanised underground mines in the first quarter of 2018. In that regard, the mines downsized their workforce to match their operational requirements,” the report noted.

Workers of Goldfields Mines have recently been protesting their management's decision to opt for contract mining.

The move is expected to result in huge retrenchments.

Goldfields said it was going to lay off 1,500 of its workers.

The retrenchment is expected to affect most of its miners at the Tarkwa mine.

But it said a majority of the workers that will be laid off would be reemployed by the contractor who will take over mining activities of the mine.