Asantehene Bemoans Reckless Mining

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has called on players in the mining sector to be mindful of their operations in order not to endanger human lives and environment following the reopening of the AngloGold Ashanti Mine in Obuasi.

He also urged the management of the company to ensure that the Obuasi municipality benefits from its mineral wealth.

After a four year shut down, government has officially reopened the Anglogold Ashanti Gold Mine with a 1.6 million dollars redevelopment investment which span for a 22-year period.

At the reopening ceremony on Tuesday, the Asantehene asked all whose dealings matter to the operation of the mining firm to be security conscious to forestall any unforeseen circumstances.

“We should not be lured into a premature sense of security for the challenges of the past have not gone away, and we should expect more challenges as we move forward. Top of the challenges is security. The state has made some commitment to provide secured environment for the investors to conduct their business.”

“It is our bounding duty to honour this commitment fully; and I entrust the Nananom (Chiefs) of Adansi and Amansie the duty of ensuring collective collaboration with the company and securing agencies of the state to ensure the maximum protection of the mine and all its assets”, he added.

Gov't targets US$2.2 billion in taxes from reopened Anglogold Ashanti Mine

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Anglogold Ashanti, Eric Asubonteng, maintained that the firm has restrategized to revamp its operation to develop the country.

“So we are going to invest about 881 million over the initial period which we define as the first six years. By then we would have put in place all the necessary infrastructure and investment that we require for the remaining years of mine. We are currently looking at a life of mine for over 20 years.”

“On an average in the land mine, we are looking at between 400,000 to 500,000 ounces per annum. With this, we are estimating that US$5.3 billion will be retained in the country. This amount includes direct taxes to government, support to local businesses, corporate social responsibilities expenses and others. The direct taxes to government will be about US$2.2 billion over this period. If you look at the total revenue that the mine is going to generate over the life of mine, this US$5.3 represents just over 51 percent of the revenue pie that is going to be retained in the country. The rest goes into paying off the initial capital investment and then shareholder returns.”

Job creation

Meanwhile, it is expected that the resumption of the operations of the mining firm will also provide about 2,500 jobs.

Mr. Asubonteng also disclosed that several other people will be employed on temporary basis in the course of production.

“Now that we have changed our mining method to a mechanized and automated manner, the number of employees we are going to hire wouldn't be high. But at early stage of the production stage, we are looking at about 2,000 and 2,500 people to be engaged. The scale of production will definitely be higher than when we suspended operations. We will then go through a construction period of about two years. During that period, other people will be engaged on a short contract basis temporarily.”

—Citinewsroom