Gun shots at Goldfields Tarkwa mine; four injured

Four workers at Goldfields mines in Tarkwa in the Western region have been left injured amid firing of gunshots after allegations of military and police brutality on the mine workers.

The workers, according to Starr News intend to boycott work until the company reverses its decision lay off some workers of the company.

Starr News’ Western regional correspondent, Emmanuel Ohene Gyan who confirmed the incident stated that the injured workers have been rushed to the general hospital in Tarkwa for treatment.

According to him, calm has been restored to the mine but workers have resolved to embark on a sit down strike until the company reverses its decision.

Background

In December 2017, Goldfields Ghana Limited revealed it was going to lay off almost 2000 workers as part of measures to change its business model and make the company profitable due to the relatively short lifespan of the mine.

But the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union, Abdul Moomin Gbana, at the time said the reasons given by Goldfields were inconsistent with the facts on the ground.

“Goldfields claims the life of the mine is 5 to 6 years, and based on the limited time, they cannot invest in mining fleet…it can actually run for a number of years and you don’t necessarily need to replace the fleets that Goldfields claims it wants to do.”

“Records available to us indicates that, contrary to their claim of the life of the mine of 5-6 years, they have over 15 years of mine and so the question is, if your choice of contract mining is based on a limited life of mine and your own website projects 15 years, then, the question is, who are you misleading,” he argued.

This is the second time in three years that the mining firm has embarked on a massive retrenchment exercise.

A 2014 exercise saw some 400 of its workforce laid off.