Ghanaian CSOs call for greater control over mining companies

14 May 2007

Local groups argue that the controversial IFC-sponsored Ahafo gold mine seriously threatens the environment and livelihoods.

The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that NGOs in Ghana have urged the government to play a greater role in regulating and mitigating the adverse impacts of mining on local communities. Ghana’s Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) and Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) held a press conference in Ghana’s capital, Accra, arguing that gold mining seriously threatens the environment and livelihoods in areas of mining operations.

FIAN’s coordinator Mike Anane singled out U.S.-based Newmont for the detrimental effects of its gold mining operations in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo region. The Chronicle reports that Anane said affected communities were dissatisfied with the project because of “the displacement of people, the inadequacy of compensation, loss of access to land and water, environmental destruction and devastation of their natural heritage, culture, and sources of sustenance and military brutalization of protesters.” Anane added that Ghana’s laws should protect the right of communities to free and informed consent for mining projects on community lands.

FIAN and WACAM joined representatives of other affected communities in Peru, Indonesia, Romania, and the United States, international environmental groups, and some of Newmont’s shareholders in issuing a collective statement ahead of the company’s annual meetings. The statement called on the company to review how it engages with communities and the environmental impacts of its operations. While the company’s shareholders passed a resolution to that effect, some activists insist that Newmont must go a step further to have independent experts conduct the review.

In January 2006, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), approved a $125 million investment in Newmont’s Ahafo project, saying it would serve as a model for good resettlement practices and provide benefits to local communities. To date, nearly 10,000 local residents have lost their homes and/or livelihoods as a result of the mine, and thousands more in farming-dependent communities are expected to be physically or economically displaced by the mine’s imminent expansion to the north. Meanwhile, the project sponsor is planning to open operations at another mine site in the country, which could threaten a forest reserve and jeopardize local water sources.

Resources

• FIAN calls for stronger controls over mining industry by Daniel Nonor, Ghanaian Chronicle, April 26, 2007 (AllAfrica website)
• Gov’t must control mining companies – NGOs, Ghana News Agency, April 22, 2007 (MyJoyOnline website)
• Newmont under pressure by Clement Boateng, Ghanaian Chronicle, April 26, 2007 (AllAfrica website)
• Big U.S. miners becoming socially conscious? by Steve James, Reuters, April 29, 2007 (Reuters website)
• Tarnished Gold: Mining and the unmet promise of development, Bank Information Center et al, September 2006 (BIC website) (Acrobat PDF 372 KB)