Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Mining George Mireku Duker has mentioned to 3news.com affiliate Connect FM of the possibility of using part of the $6 million fine imposed on Maxam Ghana Limited in the rebuilding of the Appiatse community.
“The Minister [of Lands and Natural Resources] has already constituted a committee for the reconstruction of Appiatse. They are working to raise funds in reconstructing Appiatse so this is basically not assigned to the reconstruction project. It is also to support the activities of the Minerals Commission and practically if the need be to also support the people of Appiatse. We will do so because it is generally for Ghanaians.”
George Mireku Duker said this when he led a technical team from his ministry and the Minerals Commission on a tour of the production site of Maxam Ghana Limited at Tarkwa in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region.
The visit was for the Deputy Minister and the technical team to learn at first-hand measures instituted by the company since the Appiatse explosion on Thursday, January 20.
“Pursuant to LI 21 77, we have some obligations for Maxam to comply with. Consequently, the Minister has sanctioned my good self and a technical team including the Chief Inspector of Mines who has been mandated by LI 21 77 to have oversight responsibility of the operations of an entity like Maxam to practically abreast ourselves of the issues…” he said of the visit.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has imposed a $6 million fine on Maxam Ghana Limited following a recommendation by a committee set up to investigate the Appiatse explosion.
Before that, the Mineral Commission issued a prohibition license for the company to halt operations at its production site in Tarkwa.
The company on Wednesday, February 9 commenced payment of the fine with an initial amount of $1 million.
Mr Mireku Duker, after the tour of the company, said he was satisfied with what has been done so far.
Responding to the question on how the halt in production has affected mining companies and the subsequent impact on the county’s economy, the deputy minister, who is also Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsuaem, explained the intention of the ban is not to cause pandemonium in the mining industry but only “to correct the anomaly in the system”.
“…AngloGold is stressed, Manganese is stressed, Perseus is stressed and the industry together with the Chamber are all worried about they not operating because of the obvious impact on their operations. But we also want to be mindful of the lives of the citizenry. So we are putting in place measures to protect both Ghanaians and their operations. We cannot isolate them and say because they are losing we should carelessly or negligently allow them to work without taking into consideration the magnitude of the negative impact their operations may have on the citizens of this country.”
He insisted that the sanction is nothing new in the extractive industry, stressing that government will continue to engage players in the sector to ensure that their operations remain in the remit of the country’s laws on mining.
“We have several examples in the diaspora and international architecture where companies were sanctioned like BP, Chevron and even in Ghana therefore this is not something new.”
“Yes, they have faulted along the line, we have given them some guidelines of which I’m impressed so far with what we’ve seen and that they are organised. So if they do so, correct the few housekeeping issues we’ve seen and pointed out to management, I don’t think there is the need to continue sanctioning.”
On when the company will be made to resume its operations, the deputy minister said, “it will be anytime depending on what I tell the minister on what we’ve seen here and the minister will then do the needful”.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|Connect FM|3news.com|Ghana