The operations of Earl International Group Gold Ghana Limited in the Upper East Region are increasingly being threatened by the activities of illegal miners who have devised dangerous and sophisticated methods to infiltrate the company’s underground mining areas to pilfer gold ore.
According to the Assistant Public Relations Officer of the company, Albert Azongo, illegal mining has become the single biggest challenge confronting Earl International, with intruders exploiting old mining pits, some dug inside private homes, to gain access to the company’s underground shafts.
“Illegal mining is our biggest problem. There are massive intrusions into our underground areas by illegal miners,” Mr. Azongo revealed, painting a grim picture of how decades of unregulated mining have left behind a maze of abandoned pits now being reused for criminal activities.
He explained that mining has existed in the area since as far back as 1992, long before Earl International obtained its large-scale mining licence in 2019. As a result, numerous pits already crisscrossed the concession when the company began operations.
“Some persons were compensated to extinguish their concessions for us to mine, but we still have situations where some of these old pits are being used to link directly into our underground workings,” he said.
Mr. Azongo named areas such as Kejetia, Obuasi and Tarkwa, within the company’s concession, as hotspots where illegal mining thrives openly. He described scenes that resemble bustling markets, with illegal miners operating in broad daylight just a few kilometres from the company’s yard.
“They are there doing serious business. Some of them, their main aim is to link into our underground area to steal our ore,” he stated.
The illegal incursions, he said, have resulted in significant financial losses and grave safety risks. Mr. Azongo disclosed that illegal miners often time their movements to coincide with blasting activities by the company.
“When we blast, we allow time for fumes to clear before our workers go underground. But these illegal miners know our blasting schedule. Within minutes after blasting, they go in, take what they want and come out before our workers return,” he explained.
This practice has led to several near-fatal incidents, including cases where illegal miners became trapped underground after inhaling toxic fumes. In some instances, the company’s rescue teams were forced to intervene to save the lives of the same intruders who threaten its operations.
“There was a time some of them were trapped underground. Their people came begging that if we didn’t rescue them, they would die. We had to dispatch our rescue team through our shaft and take them to the hospital,” Mr. Azongo recounted.
Beyond theft and safety risks, the company is deeply worried about the unregulated use of cyanide by illegal miners within its concession. According to Mr. Azongo, most of the cyanide operations are carried out by foreign nationals, particularly Burkinabes, who process ore using crude vat-leaching methods.
“They buy ore from small-scale miners and process it using cyanide in open areas, with basins and fire, completely unregulated,” he said, adding that such activities pose severe environmental risks.
He warned that future tests on underground water contamination could unfairly implicate the company. “If there is contamination, we may be held responsible for things we have not done,” he cautioned.
Attempts to flush out the illegal miners, including a three to four-week operation by National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), have yielded only temporary relief. “Once the task force leaves, they come back,” Mr. Azongo said.
The situation has also bred serious security concerns. The company operates a 24-hour shift system, making its workers vulnerable to attacks, especially at night.
“Armed robbers attack our workers. Some of our workers have been killed in the past. Just a week or two ago, someone was shot and killed a few metres from here,” he revealed.
To help curb the insecurity, Earl International has begun supporting the Ghana Police Service with logistics, including the provision of 250 litres of fuel weekly to aid patrols around the concession.
Perhaps most alarming are revelations that some illegal pits are located inside residential houses. Mr. Azongo described homes with intact floors concealing underground shafts fitted with makeshift safety gates.
“When we arrest some of them underground, we have to follow them to show us where they pass. They take us into houses where there are pits inside rooms,” he said, adding that some areas are “no-go zones” due to the violent resistance the company faces.
In extreme cases, illegal miners have allegedly beaten company workers underground and forced them to retreat while they extract ore.
“Our workers do not carry weapons. They are always armed. We advise our workers not to confront them because they can be very violent,” Mr. Azongo noted.
Despite repeated reports to the Minerals Commission and other state agencies, the company says the problem persists, posing a threat not only to its operations but to lives, the environment and the broader investment climate in the region.
Source: A1 Radio | 101.1 Mhz | Joshua Asaah | Gbane
