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The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has temporarily suspended the operations of Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited at Gbane in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region.
 
This followed reports received by the ministry to the effect that the operations of the company had allegedly caused the death of some residents in the area.

Consequently, the company has asked its 500 workers to go home.

Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited is into prospecting and mining, drilling and blasting and also provides support services to companies.

The directive by the ministry to the mining company was contained in a letter dated April 24, 2017, signed by the sector Minister, Mr John Peter Amewu, and copied to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission.

The letter, addressed to the Shaanxi Mining Ghana Limited, said the minister “has received reports that your mining operations at Gbane in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region have allegedly caused the death of some people in that area.

“It has been reported that this is not the first time such an incident has occurred in your mine and this cannot be allowed to continue.”

The letter explained that the action by the ministry was also to enable "thorough investigations to be conducted into the matter and that the suspension shall remain in force until investigations are completed and the appropriate decisions taken by me."

Angry workers

Meanwhile, workers of the company are not happy with the ministry’s decision, describing it as "unfair and giving undue advantage to illegal miners to continue their illegal mining activities."

Some of the workers wondered why the company, which was licensed to operate, would be given such a directive.

They said the development would have a rippling effect on their immediate families and other dependants.

They also noted that if the issue was not handled properly, it would result in increased crime and other social vices in the area, aside from giving those engaged in galamsey much more opportunity to carry out the illegality.

The aggrieved workers alleged that it was rather those engaged in galamsey who had been straying onto the concessions of Shaanxi and had been blasting unprofessionally, thereby causing their own deaths.

  Management

That allegation was corroborated by the Human Resource Manager of the company, Mr Joseph Anokye, at a news conference, where he said it was not the operations of the company that resulted in the recent deaths of seven people in the area, but rather the activities of the illegal miners.

He said some illegal miners usually strayed onto the mining concessions of the company without the knowledge of management.

According to him, the management of the company had written several letters to the various regulatory bodies, including the Minerals Commission and the police, to help stop the illegal mining in the area but to no avail.

The Underground Mine Manager, Mr Thomas Yenzanya, said the company had successfully carried out its blasting without any problems only to learn that seven people had died elsewhere.

"We have 18 professional and experienced blastmen who know the blasting procedures. These blastmen had worked in places like AngloGold Ghana before they joined the Shaanxi Mining Company," he said.

Mr Yenzanya said it would, therefore, be unfair for anyone to suggest that the company was responsible for the deaths that had been occurring in the area.

In any case, he contended that those who died had strayed into the operational areas of Shaanxi and that was not known to the company.