Ghacem's Quarry Life Award Project Gets Accolade

Mr. Stephane Riviere, a member of the international jury of the ongoing Ghacem’s quarry life award competition, who is also a Biodiversity and Natural Resources Expert-Global Environmental Sustainability at Heidelberg Cement, Germany has paid a working visit to Ghacem.

Accompanied by Mr. Tobias Hartmann, Global Environmental Sustainability Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for Heidelberg Cement (HC), the visit among other things aimed at assessing the current rehabilitation and reclamation projects of Ghacem.

The visit also allowed Riviere to evaluate the projects of Ghana’s top six finalists of the ongoing 4th edition of the Quarry Life Award (QLA) contest being organised by HC Group.

The QLA is a global competition organised by Heidelberg Cement Group to source ideas towards the effective regeneration and management of biodiversity in all its mining sites across the globe.

Heidelberg Cement operates more than 100 cement grinding plants and over 1,000 quarries in more than 40 countries. Ghana, represented in this case by Ghacem, is part of HC Group subsidiary countries participating in the QLA competition.

Mr. Stephane Riviere revealed that his visit was to Ghana was to engage the Environmental Managers of the HC Group’s Subsidiaries across Africa including Ghacem, to assess the situation about the Biodiversity plan of its quarries and most importantly review the ongoing QLA projects across Africa including Tanzania, Togo, Benin and Ghana.

He was impressed with Ghacem, observing the level of responsiveness from stakeholders involved in the running of the competition has been high.

He commended for doing a good job initiating the projects with proper supervision.

He observed that the candidates are very clear in their approach, results and presentation “which has made our engagement and evaluation of projects very easy.”

He urged candidates to establish clear guidelines, suggestions and recommendations in their final reports so that Ghacem can make the most of it in terms of the added value for itself and the way it can promote biodiversity at quarries.

He wished participants from Ghana and other parts of Africa well in the 4th edition of the QLA project.

He urged participants to be clear in their recommendations and methodologies so that it can be replicated in other parts of the world, not only in Ghana.

Top Ghacem officials present to host the delegation from Heidelberg Cement included: Mr. Joseph Mensah, Environment Health and Safety Manager, Mr. Kwabena Labi Addo, QLA National Coordinator and Mr. Solomon Ayiah, QLA Communications Coordinator.

Also present was a QLA National Jury member, Dr. Daniel E.K.A. Siaw, Land Reclamation & Rehabilitation Department, KNUST.

Mr. Joseph Mensah in an interview emphasised the importance of the QLA for Ghacem and the entire HC Group.

He explained that the interest it has generated among educational institutions and the coming together of different projects for biodiversity promotion "means as a company we will have a good source of database in our reclamation processes at our quarries.”

Project titles
The six finalists have the following as the title of the projects: Evans Ewald Nkrumah -- Impact of mining on foraging bats; Edmond Schandorf -- Soil moisture retention and native pollinators preservation: The case of Mimosa Pudica; Daniel Adusu - Promote the use of biochar for mine soil amendment and biodiversity enhancement; Emily Esenam Bansah -- The Statistical Determination of the Best Biological Geotextile for Biodiversity Promotion in Quarries; Kwame Konadu Yeboah -- Socio-economic impact assessment of Talbotiellagentii spp. in five communities; and Abraham Addo-Ansah Allotey -- Promoting community participation for sustainable eco-restoration.