Shaanxi Mining (Ghana) Company Limited operating in the Gbane community of the Upper East Region has recalled 459 of its workers who were asked to go home after the Lands and Natural Resources Minister temporally suspended the operations of the company in May this year.
The temporal suspension of the operations of the company by John-Peter Amewu followed the death of some illegal miners whose leadership alleged the company intentionally blasted concessions with a poisonous gas leading to the death of the illegal miners.
Though the company dismissed this claim, the government suspended its operations temporally to pave way for some investigations into the matter. Following the suspension, the company said 500 of its workers were asked to go home until further notice.
In a letter dated 22 August, 2017, and signed by Mr. Sulemana Mahama, acting Chief Director at the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry on behalf of Mr. Amewu, cleared the company of any involvement in the death of the miners and subsequently lifted the suspension.”
Speaking to A1 Radio News Thursday, Maxwell Wooma, the Public Relations Officer of Shaanxi Mining (Ghana) Company Limited, disclosed that out of the 500 workers who were asked to go home, 459 of them were immediately recalled when the company resumed operation two weeks ago.
He said: “I can confirm that the mine is back in full operations with labour almost all recalled to the site except that 41 out of 500 workers that we have are yet to report. Some of them are extremely at large; we are unable to reach them based on the data we have available about them and some of them I am sure because of the long duration of the suspension might have switched job by now. Apart from that, we have opened up all phases of the mine for operation and we have recalled all those who have made themselves readily available to get back to work.”
Mr. Wooma further disclosed that throughout the suspension, the company had a lot of issues with the illegal miners stressing that: “The suspension gave them room to operate freely. In fact, the actuated their illegal activities in our underground using the suspension period that is why we had to do a lot of blasting underground to block most of the illegal means that they were using access the ore underground.”
On admonition by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister to company to conduct its mining operations in a sustainable manner, bearing in mind human safety and environmental sustainability, the PRO said they are working on them and commended Rockson Ayine Bukari, the Regional Minister who is ensuring the recommendations are carried through for his understanding of the issues.
Source:a1radioonline.com/Ghana
