Earl International Group Limited, a gold mining company in Talensi in the Upper East Region, has said its move to seal illegal mining pits discovered within its concession was to avert interference and looming danger to small scale miners.
The company said the move, which it had informed the Regional Security Council and the Minerals Commission about, was purely a measure being undertaken on grounds of safety to prevent a repeat of mining accidents which have cost lives in the area.
“Earl holds a large-scale mining lease which has been rightfully ratified by Parliament covering an area of 16.02sq.km. In this case, it largely has to do with impending interference and looming danger to the miners working in that area.
It is surprising that those who have over the years chastised the company for mining accidents and are today advocating for safe mining environment are not seeing the substance in our concern. REGSEC and Minerals Commission understood the case we made for these particular pits to be sealed”.
Clash
On Friday March 15, a combined team of Police and military personnel faced strong resistance from small scale miners in the Gbane community after the company took action to seal some of the numerous illegal mining pits discovered within its concession.
The youth, who saw the exercise as one that would take food out of their mouths, did everything within means to abort the exercise.
The miners reportedly pelted stones and other objects at the joint police-military teams which also reportedly responded by firing their guns in their direction.
Three of the small-scale miners got injured in the turmoil. Properties of the company and military vehicles were also reportedly destroyed by the angry miners.
“We won’t sit and allow foreigners to come and take our lands. The land is for us, and we shall protect it with our last breath.” One of the miners was heard saying in a viral video posted on Facebook.
Response
Speaking to the media, Albert Azongo, the Assistant Public Relations Officer of the company, explained that although there are a lot of illegal pits within the company’s concession, the company identified those that posed greater danger to the miners for sealing.
He said ahead of the exercise, the company held engagements with all the relevant stakeholders and authorities including the regulators, community leaders and some of the miners.
Azongo stated that the engagement was to create understanding within the community so that there would not be problems when the exercise is being carried out.
“This clash between the military and illegal miners mining in our concession which led to some casualties is very unfortunate and was avoidable. Because we strongly wanted to ensure that this kind of unfortunate incident did not occur, we held engagements with the relevant stakeholders including our regulators, community leaders and some of the persons we established were the operators of these mining pits.”
He continued that, “there is no contention over whether these pits that were to be sealed fall within our concession or not. These our brothers mining there and resisting the sealing of their pits have no mining license or concessions. They are just pit owners or sponsors.”
Azongo said the company has taken note of the implications driving the miners away would have on their livelihoods. He, therefore, said the company will go back to engage and consult with the miners and find an amicable solution to the issues.
“What happened last Friday is not a conflict between our mining company and the Gbane Community. We are not fighting the community. It is a section of people who are fighting to protect their source of livelihoods. We will re-open the engagement and consultations window with them and those who matter to address this issue”.
By Castro Senyalah