The Damang Mine of Abosso Gold Fields Limited has signed a Reclamation Security Agreement (RSA) and bond with government to ensure that the company reclaims all used land.
The RSA entails filling the mined lands with soil to restore them to their original state at the end of a mine’s life.
Currently, the bond value of Gold Fields Damang Mine with Stanbic Bank is estimated at $8.3 million.
According to the company, its policy on reclamation is to rehabilitate disturbed areas while mining operations are ongoing and not to wait until the end of mine life.
General Manager of the company, Michiel van de Merwe, who disclosed this during an open house forum recently at Damang, said failure to comply with the agreement would result in government using the bond to reclaim all such areas for the benefit of the affected local communities.
He explained that the programme is to allow the stakeholders to know that it’s possible to reclaim mine-disturbed areas and use them for farming and other land use activities.
“Reclamation plans for the Damang Mine are designed to facilitate the re-establishment of the best possible land uses for the benefit of local communities and also as a good means of employment generation,” he added.
He revealed that about 1,286 hectares of disturbed area have been reclaimed by the mine even though Damang is still at the peak of its operations.
“The entire world is heading towards food security challenges and in a few years, communities that are able to overcome these challenges by producing food to meet the world’s demand are going to be the richest communities in the world,” he emphasized.
“It is with this vision in mind that Gold Fields continues to reclaim lands it has disturbed and restore for agricultural use,” he added.
Mr Van de Merwe mentioned that Gold Fields is committed to transforming parts of the mine’s lease area into large-scale commercial plantations for the benefit of the company’s host communities.
He called for partnerships with chiefs and other land owners to convert some areas on the mine into cocoa and rubber plantations.
John Kwasi Adingala, acting Manager, Health, Safety and Environment of the mine, who took the participants through the reclamation process, said “The seedlings would be nursed after which land clearing, including stripping and stockpiling of the topsoil and oxide would be done. Then there would be rehabilitation earthworks comprising the battering the oxide and the spreading of the topsoil followed by soil and slope stabilization and ultimately, tree or crop planting.”
From Emmanuel Opoku, Damang