Northern Ashanti Mines director and shareholder Fredrick Okine has said about 400 workers have been left in limbo after security personnel took control of the company’s mining concession at Konongo.
“Our 400 workers are in limbo. We’ve asked them to be on standby, and my heart goes out to them that overnight they’ve been laid off and rendered jobless when we are trying to create more jobs,” he said on Channel One TV.
The workers include permanent employees, contractors and trainees who were expected to support the mine as it prepared to begin production.
Okine said all the company’s personnel had been moved off the site, leaving Northern Ashanti Mines unable to continue its planned work.
“We cannot do any work,” he told Bernard Avle.
He expressed concern that the disruption had come when the company was preparing to begin gold production after years of development and substantial investment.
Okine also questioned the situation at the concession, alleging that illegal miners who had previously been driven away had returned to work while his company remained unable to operate.
“In fact, the ones that we had chased out, they’ve come back to their site working,” he said.
The director said the company was trying to resolve the dispute with the authorities and get its workers back to work.
“I would like to assure them that we are doing everything to get them back to work,” he added.
Northern Ashanti Mines is challenging the termination of its mining lease, which Okine said was communicated in April. He said management had written to the Minerals Commission and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources seeking clarification before turning to the courts.
The company’s immediate concern, according to Okine, is to resolve the dispute so it can resume operations and prevent further disruption to workers’ livelihoods.
