NEWMOUNT SETS UP COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE C'TTEE (PAGE 28, JAN 8, 2010)

THE management of the Ahafo Mine Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGLL), has a Community Consultative Committee (CCC), to provide a forum for the company and the community to deliberate on matters of common interest.
The membership of the committee cuts across several societal groupings, from chiefs, the clergy, various identifiable groups, representatives of the youth, and students as well as the villages which are affected by the operations of Newmont.
The company sees the CCC as a useful democratic and participatory mechanism for managing expectations while it will also help open up dialogue, build trust between the company and its community partners and improve relationships.
The Communities Relations Manager of NGLL, Mr Emmanuel Ato Aubynn. explained that in constituting the CCC, those members representing the Government, non-governmental organisations and chiefs were appointed from among their respective groups while others from the local communities were elected in an election supervised by the Asutifi District Office of the Electoral Commission..
According to Mr Aubynn, the processes the company went through to assemble members of the committee were cumbersome but “we endured because Newmont believes that free, fair and transparent election is the surest way the electorate will trust and listen to their representatives”.
The General Manager, Environment and Social Responsibility (ESR), Mr Dan. V. Michaelsen, said in a speech read on his behalf that the CCC would eventually be transformed into an advisory body for the company and for community interaction.
He said the deliberations of the committee would go beyond issues of social responsibility. Some of the deliberations will touch on matters such as informing Newmont of key community perspectives related to the company’s operations, exploration, working to develop constructive and mutually beneficial relationships between the company and affected communities.
One of the company’s values, he said, was to “insist on and demonstrate teamwork, as well as honest communications”, adding, “we know that our performance as a business entity will not be measured solely by how many tons of gold we mine but it will also be based on how well we are as a good corporate citizen in Ahafo,”.
The ERS General Manager expressed confidence in the CCC and gave the assurance that the NGGL would do its best at ensuring that the work of the committee started in earnest and progressed smoothly.
Mr Michaelson recalled a similar inauguration event in May 2008, in respect of signing of the Ahafo Social Responsibility Agreement (ASRA), which has by far, been the most bold and perhaps audacious move any mining company in Ghana had made to demonstrate its commitment to develop communities and to ensure that when mines closed, the communities became better of.