Tarkwa (W/R), April 04, GNA-The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, has applauded Gold Fields Ghana Limited for the excellent work they have done in keeping the Tarkwa Mine safe.
According to him, the government would be proud to work with Gold Fields to ensure that mining and its related activities were executed safely.
The Minister made these remarks when he paid a working visit to the Tarkwa Mine to get first hand information and efforts the firm was making.
He was accompanied by his Deputy Minister, Mr George Mireku Duker, who was also the Member of Parliament for Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Benjamin Kessie.
“The President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision is to build Ghana into the mining hub of Africa where all the linkages and components of the value chain from exploration, mining and refining in the mining industry will be established here but we cannot do that successfully without the partnership of companies like Gold Fields” he indicated.
Mr Jinapor said “I am here to extend a hand of cooperation to Gold Fields and assure them that government’s main preoccupation is to create a conducive environment for companies like Gold Fields to compete on.”
That, he said, would enable them work together and solve problems that may arise, added that it would also motivate the Mine to invest well into its operations.
The Minister further said, “ the Government is passionate about the Green Ghana Project and l can see Gold Fields has already done a lot in that regard. Am hoping to have discussion with the Ghana Chamber of Mines so we can all contribute to the global fight against climate change”.
He expressed gratitude to Gold Fields for the support they offered when the tragic incident happened at Appiatse, adding that, “Gold Fields was one of the company’s that contributed a million United States dollars”.
Mr Stephen Osei-Bempah, General Manager, (GFGL) Tarkwa Mine, explained that safety was their number one value and management of the Mine was committed to ensure that their employees came to work safely and returned home without any injury.
“To help achieve this, the Mine introduced the courageous leadership programme on site and before the programme was rolled out, we took our workers through assertiveness course to encourage them to voice out when something is boarding them. As Ghanaians one of our challenges is that people are afraid to speak up”, he stated.
According to him, from 2010-2021, the firm managed to reduce injuries on the Mine from 69 to five and this was a great achievement for the Mine, adding, “that is not where we want to end, we intend to work towards attaining zero harm”.
Again, Mr Osei-Bempah, said aside the five injuries they recorded last year, the Mine managed to work 250 working days consecutively without any injury.
The General Manager announced that “We are responding well to the Local Content. The Mine brought Western Transport Service (WTS) to its site and gave them a contract. We assisted them in acquiring 10 buses but currently, they own 175 buses.
Zen was also located on this site and we offered them a small contract in 2012 and over the years they have grown and now supply to West African. Gold Fields is really supporting the local service providers”
GNA