Obuasi, Nov. 12, GNA - AngloGold Ashanti (Obuasi) has expressed the fear that the over one million dollars spent to check the silting up of the Kwabrafo and Nyam streams, running through the Obuasi municipality, could go to waste because of the resumption of illegal mining operations in the streams.

The Company's initiative was meant to serve the dual-purpose of preventing flooding and the breeding of mosquitoes, but, Mr John Sarpong-Boateng, the Public Relations Officer, said this is being defeated. The intensified activities of the illegal miners are blocking the streams with sand and rocks. Mr Sarpong-Boateng raised the concern when he conducted newsmen, officials of the mine and members of the Environment sub-Committee of the municipal assembly to assess the danger.

The streams, he said, overflowed whenever it rained posing a lot of hazard to residents hence the company's decision to "embark on this capital intensive project of remove the silt in them". He said it was part of AngloGold Ashanti's commitment to ensuring safe environment as well as its resolve to address environmental issues that are likely to impact negatively on the people.

Mr Sarpong-Boateng appealed for community support to safeguard the company's activities designed to help improve the lives of the majority of people and enhance the operations of the Mine. Mr. John Sackey, the Chairman of the Assembly's Environmental Sub-Committee, said the assembly would not tolerate acts that would defeat what he termed "a laudable initiative." He urged the residents to accept the responsibility of helping to prevent the illegal mining, adding "what we have seen here will be communicated to the assembly and the Municipal Chief Executive" 12 Nov 09