By Samuel Boadi
AT THIS time and age where most countries in the world are inculcating several forms of modernity into their infrastructural development, especially in their mining areas, the same can still not be said of Ghana and one wonders why Government is just insensitive. Samuel Boadi delves into the issue.
NEWMONT GHANA started operations at its Ahafo Mine in January 2006, went into processing in June of that year and had its first gold pour on July 18, 2006. According to the company, it has made capital investments of up to $1 billion as at end of 2009 and paid royalties totaling $42.3 million as at end of the last quarter of 2009.
This is welcome news particularly considering the quantum of investment involved and the chain of employment it has created in addition to the compact benefits that have accrued to persons affected by the company’s operations.
Newmont’s Ahafo mine boasts of two primary ore zones - North and South, separated by the Bosumkese Forest Reserve. These entail 11 deposits over a 40-kilometer trend. As at 2008, its Ahafo south site had reserves of 5.9 million ounces while its north site had 3.2 million ounces.
Resettling Affected Farmers
In its quest to extract ore from certain locations in its concession, Newmont Ahafo embarked on a land access programme. This involved the resettlement as well as the livelihood re-establishment programmes.
Under the former, over 1,700 households were affected. These entailed some $17 million, while $16 million was spent on crop compensations and $22.3 million on the livelihood re-establishment. The latter encompassed the agriculture improvement and land access programme (AILAP), the vulnerable programme targeted at resettled households in Newmont’s two resettlement communities (OLA and Ntotoroso), skills development for income improvement (SDIIP), Ahafo Linkages Programme (ALP) and the Ahafo Agribusiness Growth Initiative (AAGI).
The affected communities thus established a Resettlement Negotiation Committee (RNC) composed of community representatives and traditional authorities who are independently nominated and validated to represent the people living in the area.
The RNC, which negotiated with Newmont on resettlement and crop compensation, comprised a former Inspector-General of Police, the District Chief Executive, the District Development Planning Officer, the traditional council, the Land Valuation Board and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
Newmont says it spent $14 million to construct the two sites. The Ntotoroso Resettlement Village is located immediately south of the existing community of Ntotoroso and spans 398 acres (161 hectares) while the OLA Resettlement Village covers 126 acres (51 hectares) just west of the existing community.
For the first time, the homes and residential plots came with a legal title (99-year leases). Prior to Newmont's resettlement, residents held no titles to the lands they occupied because these were owned by the traditional families and landowners. The legal title has created “pride of ownership” among resettled residents because they now know the land they live on is their own. Residents who lost their residential land received a replacement plot in a resettlement village and farmers received monetary compensation for displaced crops.
Beneficiaries’ Reaction
In the case of Newmont Ghana, it says it acted on the recommendations of the RNC. But given the high status of the different personalities and government agencies that constituted the RNC on one hand, and the type of structures that have been put up in the villages – OLA and Ntotoroso, on the other, one would wonder whether the committee really did a satisfactory work.
Some beneficiaries of the resettlement programme who were interviewed by CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE at Ntotoroso recently on anonymity expressed dissatisfaction at the 10 ×12 dimension rooms that have been built for them.
The beneficiaries maintain the relatively short height of the buildings (without electricity yet), makes living in it slightly uncomfortable. It ranges from one bedroom to five bedroom houses. Each compound has a toilet very detached from the main building.
“We feel hot inside these structures. We were expecting that the structures would have some tint of modernity but since we had no choice, we had to accept these ones. After all, we could not have afforded them,” one wishing only to be known as Kofi told this reporter.
But Kofi Antwi Boasiako, Land Access Manager at Newmont Ahafo, stated in a telephone interview that Newmont played to the dictates of building standards of the Ghana.
“All of the previous structures owned by the affected farmers were farmsteads and these were in dimensions of 5 ×6, 5×7 and 5×8 huts. Also, all the structures have been approved by the Department of Town & Country Planning to conform to government’s development plan,” Mr Boasiako mentioned.
Yaw Antwi Dadzie, External Affairs Manager, Newmont Ghana, adds that Newmont Ghana has decided to improve the second phase of the resettlement project on its own by providing ample space within the new structures under construction and further initiate and compact other relevant facilities.
Newmont’s Ahafo and Akyem projects together have approximately 17.4 million equity ounces of proven and probable gold reserves, representing about 20 percent of Newmont’s global equity gold reserves (86.53 million ounces) as at end of 2008.
The Ahafo mine produces about 500,000 ounces of gold per annum from three pits while the Akyem project is in a feasibility phase.
Newmont is focused on sustainability and environmental best practices and is listed on the Dow Jones sustainability index world. It was recently certified under the International Cyanide Management Code.
