By Erica Apeatua Addo
Akoon (W/R), July 24, GNA – More than 5,000 people in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality and its environs have benefited from the Tarkwa community mining programme, the Media and Public Relations Manager, Mr Kwadwo Safo has said.
He said out of the total workforce, 2000 were women and they have been engaged as cleaners and caterers who prepared meals for their staff.
Mr Safo made this known to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) when management of the Mine visited the site to find out challenges and achievements since the Mine became operational last year.
He said ” the Tarkwa community Mine, have operated for a year and seven months, so far work has been particularly good. We have over 5,000 direct staff, when we add our indirect staff who have machines at various places where our workers go to process their mineral ore then we are getting to almost 10,000″.
Mr Safo said in line with requirement they have well equipped first aid clinic to provide immediate health care for their staff in time of need.
“At our safety department, we have the underground committee, and they supervise the day-to-day activities that occur underground. They come out with their report as to what measures need to be put in place to prolong the life of the Mine” he noted
He continued that, management of the mine have channeled some of the revenue from their operations into various developmental projects and programmes.
“In our host community Akoon, we have assisted in renovating their football park, provided sets of jersey and footballs to their basic school and are currently constructing an assembly block for them.
As part of our Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR) we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Medeama Football Club to provide the player of the month with a flat screen television set and cash prize to motivate the players to give off their best” the public relations manager explained.
He added, the Mine supported the Nana Kwabena Angu II, Chief of Apinto Divisional Area football gala, the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly during last year’s farmers day celebration, the Member of Parliament’s for Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency teachers award programme, Apinto Government hospital and offered financial assistance to individuals.
He added: “because we operate an underground mine, we need to do de-watering which simply means removing standing water from a low point in the mine but because of power fluctuation most of our pumps are now faulty. If we break this exercise for even a week it will cause havoc and we may end up recording more accidents
“Sometimes we even pay GHS 2 billion a month for electricity bills and this is affecting our operation. We are appealing to the government to assist us with industrial blowers to provide enough ventilation for the workers underground and help us carry out the maintenance of the Mine frequently”
He expressed gratitude to the government for initiating the programme which had offered job opportunities to the teeming youth in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal and beyond.
Mr Safo added that the Mine would continue to undertake developmental projects and programmes as their CSR, carry out their duties diligently and adhere strictly to all the laid down rules and regulations governing their operations
Around the Mine, the GNA observed that hundreds of traders had taken advantage of the programme by occupying every available space with their businesses.
Maame Yaa Adoma, a food vendor, said she was making good sales and praised the government for ensuring that indigenes within mining communities benefited from the natural resources.
The community mining programme is one of government’s initiatives to promote small scale mining and discourage the youth from engaging in illegal mining, popularly called galamsey.
GNA