Sunyani (B/A), April 7, GNA - Forty-seven local suppliers of Ahafo Mine of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL), benefited from capacity building programmes in the areas of mentoring in business, tender and financial management, accounting, marketing, health and safety in 2009. As a result the suppliers were able to employ 93 new persons and paid salaries estimated at GHc400,000.

The financial resources accessed by the businesses also amounted to GHc650,000 with the suppliers accessing 57 new clients apart from Newmont through a market diversification drive.

Mr. Dan Michaelsen, General Manager, Environment and Social Responsibility of the mine who made this known in Sunyani, said the total sales generated by the local suppliers as at December last year stood at GHc30 million.

He was speaking at the close-out session of the Ahafo Linkages Programme (ALP), an initiative of the mining company in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation.

The aim of the two-year programme is to develop local businesses and build their capacities to offer services to the NGGL and other companies outside the Ahafo mine.

Mr. Michaelsen said the suppliers made GHc20 million sales from Newmont's contracts in addition to GHc9 million from their other clients. Touching on some of the results of the ALP by way of local economic development, Mr. Michaelsen said last year 44 businesses also received technical assistance and developed records keeping in cashbook, expenditure analysis, credit sales and purchase, payroll, bank operation and raw material inventory.

He said the total sales that were generated by the 44 business stood at GHc2 million, creating 94 new jobs in the process, adding that the 44 local non-mining businesses accessed 1.4 million dollars as credit from financial institutions.

He said 246 individuals including 67 females benefited from short term technical assistance training programmes including good agricultural practices in vegetable and fruit production, upgrading of skills in pottery and bricks production as well as good husbandry practices in eggs production.

Mr. Michaelsen gave the assurance that the mining company would continue to work hard to improve the local environment for business development. 7 April 10