Management of Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited has rejected media reports which suggest there has been a “major” drilling accident at the company’s Upper East regional mines.
According to the company, “the said publication was not only a misrepresentation of facts but a sponsored article meant to tarnish the growing envious reputation of the company”.
Public Relations Officer of the mines, Maxwell Wooma in a statement copied to www.ghanaweb.com observed that “the caption of the story was a pure practice of yellow journalism, a false alarm and an irrelevant exaggeration of a minor incident.”
A news item carried by Starr FM reported that a mine worker had his left heel deeply ripped open in a drilling accident and four others collapsed after inhaling a deadly gas from a mining explosive at Gbani, a rural community in the Talensi District of the Upper East region.
The report further indicated that the disaster, follows a similar catastrophe that left 7 Ghanaian-born miners dead from a mining explosion in the Chinese-owned goldmines in the same area in April 2017.
But Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited in a statement copied to Ghanaweb allays public fears as according to the management, the publications are just attempting to cause fear and panic.
The company explained that although there was an accident, it was not as severe as was carried by the media.
According to the statement, “On the 21st of May 2018, three underground workers in the course of their duties, complained of dizziness to their supervisor at about 9:30am.
They were immediately taken to the Regional Hospital, Bolgatanga at 10:00am where they were admitted, treated and discharged the next day 22nd May 2018 at 11am.
Upon interrogation, the three, Messrs Timothy Mombo, Kolzie Kolbil, and Kobina Budong, said they heard some unusual obstructions from a crosscut when they were working. Curiously, they moved to the crosscut to assess the cause of those obstructions.”
“Interestingly, illegal miners had intruded the area and were actively in operation causing terrible emission of smoke from that angle. The three took time to plead with these illegal miners to surface since the company’s work schedule was on and explained the dangers of their parallel operations to both sides. It was upon their return that they worked for a moment and started feeling weak; hence their report to their supervisor.”
Read below the full statement
Our attention has been drawn to a bothersome story on Ghanaweb, carved from starrfmonline.com captioned “Disaster strikes Shaanxi Mines again” authored by one Edward Adeti, the Upper East Regional Correspondent to the online news site as well as Starr Fm, a private radio station based in Accra.
The said publication is not only a misrepresentation of facts but a sponsored publication meant to tarnish the growing envious reputation of the Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited. The caption of the story was a pure practice of yellow journalism, a false alarm and an irrelevant exaggeration of a minor incident.
Facts
On the 21st of May 2018, three underground workers in the course of their duties, complained of dizziness to their supervisor at about 9:30 am. They were immediately taken to the Regional Hospital, Bolgatanga at 10:00 am where they were admitted, treated and discharged the next day 22nd May 2018 at 11 am. Upon interrogation, the three, Messrs Timothy Mombo, Kolzie Kolbil and Kobina Budong, said they heard some unusual obstructions from a crosscut when they were working. Curiously, they moved to the crosscut to assess the cause of those obstructions.
Interestingly, illegal miners had intruded the area and were actively in operation causing terrible emission of smoke from that angle. The three took time to plead with these illegal miners to surface since the company’s work schedule was on and explained the dangers of their parallel operations to both sides. It was upon their return that they worked for a moment and started feeling weak; hence their report to their supervisor.
It was normal that their complaint be given medical attention to assess the cause of such sudden dizziness and treat same. The Starr FM reporter reached the hospital at a time these patients (then) were being discharged on the 22nd May. He saw their conditions normal and left and never reported any disaster till the 28th of May, a whole week after, and when the victims had resumed normal duty, when he suddenly in bad faith, presented the dead news to the general public as a ‘disaster’.
The publication to all intent and purposes was to cause severe alarm as though there was an existing calamity or major threat to human lives in the mine. The company is running normal schedules.
There have been severe incursions by the illegal miners into the underground workings of the company. Several calls have been made to the security services to help tame the incidence, all to no avail. Management have made repeated complaints to the regulatory institutions for assistance to permanently seal off all the illegal ingresses but has successfully failed in getting assistance.
The recurrent intrusions by the illegal miners, mostly callows used by their kingpins, enter our underground mine with their own explosives, drill and blast all drives including support pillars exposing themselves to perilous underground situations. It is therefore important that all stakeholders support us tame the tide of these intrusions to serve as a permanent solution to the nagging underground problems at the mine.
Management by this inform the general public that we are committed to the safety of our workers and have put in all relevant measures to ensure same including proper provision of Personal Protective Equipment, use of carbon monoxide detectors to prevent inhalation of gas/smoke underground and stricter disciplinary action on offenders.
…SIGNED…
Maxwell Wooma
PRO
0245285158
SHAANXI MINING GHANA LTD
Source: ghanaweb.com
