Management of Xtra Gold Ghana Mining Limited, the company whose excavators and other equipment were set on fire during anti-galamsey operations in the Eastern Region by soldiers, has insisted that the company has not been operating illegally as claimed by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor.
According to the company, which has links with the NPP National Women’s Organiser Kate Gyamfua, it has all the needed legitimate documents to conduct mining activities in the country and also said they were not mining on water bodies and in forest reserves.
Secretary in charge of one of the five concessions of the company at Akeym Pameng, Nana Asante Boadi, told journalists on Wednesday that the company has been complying with all laid down laws governing mining activities in the country and did not see why the soldiers should destroy their equipment.
He said monitors from the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory bodies constantly visit their site to check on their activities and wondered why anybody will claim that the company is engaged in illegalities when it is the same state agencies that gave them the mining permit to continue with their activities.
Burning of Machines
Some military personnel on Sunday, May 16, 2021, set mining equipment of the company ablaze at one of its concession sites. At least three of the affected excavators and a bulldozer were brand new machines and according to the company, the bulldozers were meant for reclamation of the land by the company.
Giving clarity to the number of items burnt, Nana Asante said the military personnel, numbering about 70, on Sunday burnt seven excavators, two bulldozers, five generators, 150 small pumping machines, 250 gallons of diesel among others.
He said as if that was not enough, another set of army personnel numbering about 40 on Monday returned to the site to reset fire into all the machines they had burnt the day earlier, and the sector minister has insisted that the company has been engaging in illegalities.
The minister accused Xtra Gold of hiding behind a mining operating permit to perpetuate illegalities and said the ministry will investigate the legitimacy of the mining permit put in the public domain by the company.
Court Action
In the ensuing heat, Xtra Gold has served notice that it is going to sue the government over the destruction of their property and seek compensation.
During a visit to the site of the company, there was no major river or forest reserve within the concession of the company.
The biggest river in the area, River Birim, is about 30 minutes-drive away from the concession while the major forest reserve in the area, the Atewa Range Forest, is about one-kilometre away.
The company has constructed about five small dug-outs (dams) where it conserves water for its operations and already mined areas within the concession had also been reclaimed by the company.
Nana Asante insisted that due to the strict measures adopted by Xtra Gold Inc., which is a multilateral mining firm with headquarters in Canada, the Ghanaian subsidiary could not engage in any illegalities.