Ghana

Akyem

The Denver-based Newmont Mining Corporation is planning to place an open pit gold mine in the Ajenjua Bepo Forest Reserve in the Birim North District in the Eastern region of Ghana. If developed, the Akyem mine would occupy an area 1.65 miles long (2.6 km) and a half mile across (.8 km), and would create waste piles 60-100 m high. The mine would destroy an estimated 183 acres (74 ha) of forest in the reserve, threatening the Reserve's noted diverse wildlife and plant species, including several rare species of butterflies, birds, amphibians, and mammals, and displacing the farming communities that live around the forest.1

Community groups in the Akyem area, including the Concerned Farmers Association at New Abriem, have protested against Newmont's mining plan and the inadequate compensation Newmont has offered for ruining their lands and livelihoods. They have gathered over 200 petition signatures to present to the Ghanaian government.2 "We have been spending sleepless nights thinking about the trauma of relocation, loss of farmlands and livelihood, new diseases especially the upsurge in malaria cases as a result of the open pits and other stagnant pools of water in the open trenches that will be created in the area by Newmont Ghana Gold Limited," said Akosua Nsia of Yayaaso, one of the communities in the mines direct footprint area.3

The Ajenjua Bepo Forest Reserve is one of the last remaining forest reserves in Ghana. Much remains unknown about the biodiversity of the area, but an unpublished study demonstrated that the reserve serves as an important habitat for several important species. These include a tree frog and a flying squirrel that are of serious conservation concern. 4 The Reserve is also critically important to farmers in the area because of how its hills and forests promote rainfall and a steady water supply. They are concerned about the impacts the mine could have on their water and the crops that the local communities rely on.5

In addition, the mining could severely contaminate water supplies in the area. Ghana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expressed concern that the mine's waste rock dump would result in pollution that could have serious public safety implications.6

[updated June 3, 2008]

1. Mike Anane, "Dispute over Newmont's proposed gold mine at Akyem." Public Agenda, Oct. 16, 2006, www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/article.php?ID=5998.

2. "Farmers resist Newmont operations in Ajenua Bepo Forest." Public Agenda, March 31, 2008.

3. Mike Anane, "Dispute over Newmont's proposed gold mine at Akyem." Public Agenda, Oct. 16, 2006, www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/article.php?ID=5998.

4 "Preliminary Report on Ajenjua Bepo and Mamang River Forest Reserves." Rapid Assessment Program Survey, Ghana, West Africa. 24 August - 4 September 2006. Unpublished report. Conservation International - Ghana.

5. "Farmers resist Newmont operations in Ajenua Bepo Forest." Public Agenda, March 31, 2008.

6. Mike Anane, "Dispute over Newmont's proposed gold mine at Akyem." Public Agenda, Oct. 16, 2006, www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/article.php?ID=5998.

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Wassa District

On October 16, 2001, a tailings dam burst at the Tarkwa gold mine in the Wassa West District of Ghana sending thousands of cubic meters of mine waste into the Asuman River and contaminating it with cyanide and heavy metals. The Tarkwa mine is operated by Gold Fields Ghana, a South African gold mining company. The disaster left more than one thousand people without access to drinking water. Virtually all life forms in the river and its tributary were killed. Hundreds of dead fish, crabs, and birds lay on the banks of the river and floated to the surface.

"People have lost their clean drinking water and their livelihood as they can no longer sell or eat produce from their farms through which the river runs. Gold Fields should not hide from their responsibility for damages.  We need to demand compensation for those directly affected by mining disasters."  --Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, executive director, WACAM

Once known as the Gold Coast in colonial times, Ghana is Africa's second largest producer of gold after South Africa. The spill at Tarkwa was one of five cyanide spills in Ghana over a period of seven years which have polluted water supplies and forced many families to abandon their farms.  To make the situation even worse, in January 2003, water from an abandoned underground mine at Tarkwa seeped into the Asuman River creating new worries of water contamination.

Gold mining in Ghana has been touted by the government of Ghana and international financial institutions as the path to economic development. Massive privatization of the mining sector began in 1986 under a World Bank-IMF Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). Environmental regulation was minimized. As a result of the favorable investment climate, 70 to 85 percent of the large-scale mining industry is now foreign-owned. But communities are feeling the toll. In the Wassa area, mining displaced 30,000 people between 1990 and 1998. At the same time, mining has caused social turmoil in affected communities by taking away large tracts of land from farmers, often using force and without adequate compensation.

For More Information

Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM)