EPA never responded to our letters - Exton Cubic Group

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Exton Cubic Group Limited, Sammy Gyamfi has expressed shock at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after a press release that his outfit has no permit to mine bauxite at Nyinahini in the Ashanti Region.

According to him, it is embarrassing that a country which practices rule of law has denied Exton Cubic Group Limited the natural justice by giving the company an opportunity to defend itself in the ongoing mêlée surrounding the Nyinahini bauxite.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Sammy Gyamfi bemoaned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been unfair to the local Ghanaian company for revoking its permit to prospect on the site without any provocation.

“What EPA has done is very unfair to us. At least in law, before you punish somebody, you have to give the person the chance to defend himself before passing judgment and this is what the lawyers call it natural justice. Ask EPA if they have called us into a meeting to hear our side of the story when the news came out in the media,” he enquired.

He insisted it is not true that EPA has written to Exton Cubic Group Limited demanding explanations on the allegations levelled against the company; thus, the only letter Exton Cubic Group claimed to have seen is the press release in the news, but wondered if it is the new practice of EPA to revoke license through press releases.

He asserted that Exton Cubic Group Limited has written to the EPA twice this year on 30th March and 18th June 2017 regarding the process of acquiring the permit to mine the bauxite at Nyinahini but no response has come from the EPA.

He emphasized that even though Exton Cubic has no permit to exploit the bauxite, it is an undeniable fact that the company has the permit to prospect on the site while process is underway to attain the permit to exploit the bauxite.

He maintained that the EPA has not gone to the site to attest to the allegation before revoking the permit to prospect on the land.

“ . . when the issue broke out, EPA has not gone to the site to see if we are indeed exploiting the site and without even calling us to hear our side of the issue. EPA has taken ultimate decision against us without hearing from us,” he asserted.

“EPA’s decision to revoke our license is flawed . . . there is no machine on the site exploiting the bauxite. Mining has not begun because we are not through with the documentations; legally we are not done to begin the exploitation. What we were going to do was prospecting,” he indicated.



He emphasized that the EPA based on wrong information to revoke the permit of Exton Cubic Group limited; reiterating that EPA has the information which allows the company to prospect on the land in question.

“Meanwhile, EPA has the information that we are going to do prospecting; the officers know because we are working with them. So suppose we did not inform the EPA on the day we were going to do the prospecting, do you go on radio stations to revoke our license? You give the opportunity to the person to remedy that anomaly and fill in the information gap,” he opined.

He bemoaned “our permit is not being revoked because we are doing mining and degraded the environment and our permit is not being revoked because we have done something untoward. They are only saying we didn’t tell the EPA we are going to do prospecting and so they have revoked our permit.”

He claimed many foreign companies in the mining sector in Ghana are always given the opportunity to correct their mistakes in the exploitation; wondering why the same cannot be given to a local company which has not started the exploitation.