By Erica Apeatua Addo
Tarkwa (W/R), April 17, GNA – Mr Samuel Boakye Pobee, the Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Mine, has appealed to the government to regulate the small scale and community mining well to absorb more graduates into the business.
That, he said, was one of the ways the government could capitalise on and create the sort of job opportunities the country needed for its upcoming graduates.
“We can pick some students, and then market or brand these small scale and the community mining so well that students will know this is not just “galamsey” but a professional body doing the right thing. It will even help them to use the expertise they have learned,” Mr Pobee said.
The Managing Director, who revealed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said employment opportunities in the mining industry, particularly large mining companies was becoming saturated.
He said “We have moved away from an era where you get about 300 students graduating from the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to almost about 9000 now, therefore, job opportunities among the big players in the mining industry is becoming a bit difficult”
Mr Pobee said things that allowed mining firms to create lots of jobs was when they have a new project coming onboard, discovered a new deposit or expanding a project, adding, “If such situation does not happen in any mine, the existing jobs are the only once we have”.
“We are competing with global competitors in the mining industry, Investors will only look out for those who will give them higher margins and that is where they will put their monies.
Creating more job opportunities and adding to your labour cost, you eat into your margins, so one of the key things that we need to look out is to open more Mines. In Australia they have opened more mines, so they don’t have challenges with employment. Ghana can do same through our small scale and community mining,” he said.
GNA