AngloGold Ashanti Ghana says it will fully cooperate with investigations into the arrest of a group of illegal miners carrying gold-bearing material from the underground workings of the Obuasi Gold Mine.
The suspects were apprehended in the northern part of the mining concession, which forms part of the current life of the mine.
No suspects were injured in the process of arrest.
An investigation into the incident has been initiated by the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources.
Illegal mining, particularly in underground areas, is unsafe as it undermines the structural integrity of established infrastructure and the viability of mining operations.
In so doing, it endangers the lives of company employees and contractors, public security personnel and the perpetrators themselves.
AngloGold Ashanti is a signatory to the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and remains in close engagement with its various stakeholders to safely and responsibly address illegal mining on its concession.
Obuasi Gold Mine has, since 2016, released 70 percent of its original mining lease to the government for development purposes.
The land was relinquished after a comprehensive legal process and was ceded together with data from geological drilling done over several years.
About Obuasi
Obuasi Gold Mine is one of the world’s largest gold ore bodies, with 29.5Moz of Mineral Resource, at an average grade of 7.64 grams per tonne and 8.7Moz of Ore Reserve at an average grade of 8.6 grams per tonne. Obuasi, an underground operation, mining to a depth of 1,500m, is in the Ashanti region, approximately 60km south of Kumasi.
The mine currently employs 850 staff and 3,360 contractors, with about 97.5% of all positions filled by Ghanaians. Obuasi was in limited operations in 2015, and on care and maintenance from 2016 to the start of its redevelopment in mid-2018, following the receipt of the requisite approvals from the Government of Ghana.
Obuasi Gold Mine has been recapitalized in recent years and is now ramping up production as a modern, mechanized and highly productive mining operation.
Phase 3 of the project is underway and is anticipated to completed by the end of 2023.
The Company has an active youth apprenticeship programme, with graduated 55 young artisans last year and another 80 enrolled in 2021. In addition, 13 people are currently enrolled in its graduate trainee programme. AngloGold Ashanti facilitated the opening in 2019 of the Obuasi campus of Ghana’s renowned Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), through the provision of campus buildings and accommodation for staff and students.
The satellite campus now has 1,000 students enrolled in a number of Bachelor of Science courses. Local businesses are prioritized in Obuasi’s supply chain, with more than 80% of the total investment in the mine’s redevelopment spent in Ghana, split evenly between wholly Ghanaian owed businesses and multinationals registered in Ghana.
The support of local businesses is a key strategic objective for the Company, and 100 small and medium-sized businesses have been trained and certified through the Company’s Enterprise Development Programme.
AngloGold Ashanti’s malaria control programme in the Obuasi area is one of the continent’s most successful public health initiatives, with a 90% reduction in malaria cases since the intervention started in 2005. We work with the Global Fund on this malaria programme, extending to 16 districts in Ghana, protecting more than one million people.
This has led to a significant drop in related school as well as work absenteeism and created more than 1,300 seasonal community jobs each year.
The mine has played a key role in the fight against COVID-19 in the Obuasi area, providing healthcare facilities for the community as well as personal protective equipment, sanitizer, handwashing facilities and public education to help contain the virus outbreak.
