Accra - AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi mine in Ghana will probably remain under the control of illegal miners because the government is reluctant to alienate thousands of potential voters before elections, according to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.
The world’s third-biggest gold producer lost control of Obuasi, one of the oldest mines in the world which has been in operation since the 19th century, after informal miners have invaded the property since January. The Johannesburg-based company has repeatedly asked the West African nation to act and registered a case at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in May for the government’s failure to do so.
Ghana’s Mineral Commission last week gave the illegal miners a deadline of October 10 to vacate the premise and resettle on a 60 percent portion of the 485 square-kilometre mining right, which AngloGold ceded to the government in March. The miners have so far failed to heed the order, AngloGold said in an emailed statement on October 11.
There is no political will to remove the miners “given the dynamics of the tight election”, Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, a director of academic affairs and research at the Accra-based peacekeeping institution, said in an interview, referring to parliamentary and presidential polls scheduled for December 7. “Why will an incumbent government displace about ten thousand of its potential supporters?”
Powerful cartels
President John Dramani Mahama won Ghana’s 2012 presidential election with 50.7 percent of the vote.
Illegal mining, known locally as galamsey, is funded by powerful cartels and is highly organised, Aning said.
“No illegal miner will be driven out, not today, not next year,” he said. “We need to understand the economic interest in galamsey.”
Ghana’s minister of land and natural resources, Nii Osah Mills, didn’t answer phone calls or returned a text message seeking comment. AngloGold spokesman Chris Nthite declined to add to the company’s October 11 statement.
Endangering lives
“Every day that goes by, illegal miners are endangering lives and causing further damage to the mine,” AngloGold said in the statement. “Our understanding is that the Minerals Commission work may still be ongoing, but we await further updates.”
While AngloGold suspended underground mining operations at Obuasi at the end of 2014 after incurring heavy financial losses over several years, the illegal occupation is eroding “our confidence as investors”, the company said in June. It also operates the Iduapriem mine in Ghana.
BLOOMBERG