NEWMONT TO EMBARK ON UNDERGROUND MINING (PAGE 43, OCT 5, 2010)

NEWMONT Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL), operating the Ahafo Mine in the Brong Ahafo Region, is to embark on underground mining activity in one of its potential pits of the ore, called “Subika Pit” in its current concession at Ahafo.
The exploration activity followed the granting of 18-month permit by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minerals Commission to NGGL to go ahead with its plan after the company had indicated to the two institutions of the registered potential of an underground ore deposits in the Subika Pit.
If the exploration activity turns out to be viable, then the NGGL would have to apply to the appropriate regulatory agencies for the acquisition of the final license to operate the underground mining programme.
Currently, the company is undertaking surface mining activities in four pits in the Ahafo South communities, namely, Ntotroso, Gyedu, Kenyase Number One and Kenyase Number Two since its operations started in the area about four years ago.
The Community Relations Manager of NGGL, Mr Emmanuel Ato Aubynn and Azumah Agbeko of the Public Relation Directorate of the company, announced the intention of the NGGL at a media encounter in Sunyani.
They explained that the exploration might not be positive at the end of the 18-month period set by the EPA and the Minerals Commission, but expressed the hope that the work would yield dividend for the underground activity to take off in due course.
The two officials further stated that a company called African Underground Mining Services was currently working on the exploration process, adding ‘‘We are at the moment not doing the underground mining but it is just an exploration activity.”
According to the NGGL officials, the law permitted that having registered the potential in the pit, the company ought to share that idea with the necessary stakeholders, including the media after which the EPA would organise a public forum in the operational area of the company for a wider deliberation on the activity.
‘‘For us in the company, it is critical that we meet the media who are our core collaborators in our work and we want to debunk the perception that the company was trying to dodge the payment of compensation to land acquired for surface mining,” they stated.
“It is also not true that Newmont has dug a tunnel to the northern part of the district to secretly mine the ore underground,” the two officials emphasised.
Messrs Aubynn and Agbeko explained further that the company had no intention to acquire new land area where people were resident but was still using the already zoned area of the company’s operations, where the need had arisen to go underneath for mining.
They stressed that the rocks in the Subika Pit were among those of the hardest in the world, and therefore, ruled out the possibility of caving in if the operations should start eventually after the exploration.