By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA
Tarkwa (W/R), August 18, GNA-The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, has officially opened an underground demonstration mine on campus to provide students with direct exposure to underground conditions.
The facility, initiated by Professor Richard Kwasi Amankwah, the immediate past Vice Chancellor of UMaT, would also be a hub for research and innovation, where solutions would be developed to meet the challenges of modern mining.
Addressing students and stakeholders at the opening, Mr. Joseph Frimpong, the Chief Inspector of Mines, said the demonstration Mine represented a patriotic investment in their future and served as a living laboratory where Ghanaian students would gain hands-on experience, bridging theory with practice.
He added that it was a beacon of national pride, showing the world that Ghana was not only rich in mineral resources, but rich in talents, ingenuity, and dedication.
For the students, Mr. Frimpong said the facility represented a call to service and reminded them that their education was not just for personal advancement, but for the prosperity of Ghana and the dignity of its people.
He stressed that the skills acquired at the facility should be dedicated to building industries that uplifted communities, protected the environment, and strengthened the nation.
This project stood as proof that Ghana was determined to lead in sustainable mining, to train engineers who were globally competitive but deeply committed to their homelands, and to ensure that their natural wealth became a blessing for generations to come, Mr. Frimpong said.
According to him, mining engineering was practical and field-based, adding that, it was therefore highly commendable that Prof. Amankwah and his team, created a real underground model on campus to help current and future students understand underground conditions first-hand.
He emphasised that the model was not intended to replace the usual industrial attachments on the Mines.
He, therefore, urged mining companies to make such attachments readily accessible to university and technical students as part of their corporate social responsibility.
Mr. Frimpong announced that the Minerals Commission would ensure that companies as part of their local content framework, planned and supported the practical training of students for the benefit of the nation.
Prof. Amankwah said: “The building you see here is our administration block, and after occupying it, I realized that we had a basement which was supposed to be for storage of materials”.
“When we started looking for spaces for attachment and skills training, I thought, why not turn this space into a demonstration underground mine, where people could just enter and see how an underground Mine looked like”.
He added, “For geomatic engineers, they could come here, take their points, do their Mine planning, and see how to pick a point on the surface and relate it to a point underground.”
Prof. Amankwah said the idea was that when students eventually entered a real underground Mine, they would not be totally lost.
Associate Prof. Yao Yevenyo Ziggah, the Head of the Mining Engineering Department at the UMaT, affirmed that mining engineering students now had a place for practical, stressed that efforts would be made to improve upon it from its current state to a higher level.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Benjamin Mensa
Reporter Erica Apeatua Addo
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