Banlaw Africa is closing its operations in the country as part of a restructuring process that the company says will consolidate its position in the West African mining and civil works market.

A liquidator has been appointed to ensure an orderly close-down of the Ghana business.

The decision to leave the country, in which Banlaw has operated in for 14 years, is due to contraction in the business available in the Tarkwa area mines and opportunities available elsewhere in Ghana.

The global downturn in the mining sector, compounded by escalating local costs, has hit all stakeholders in the country very hard and a number of other companies have already consolidated their positions.

The decline in the gold price has forced many mining companies to take previously outsourced operations in-house in a bid to cut costs and stay competitive.

Richard Levack, Managing Director of Banlaw Africa Group, commented: “It’s disappointing that this is the outcome of all the hard work by our team at Tarkwa, but with declining revenues and increasing costs we were not prepared to support the business any longer and the decision had to be made.

“The loss of jobs is regretted and unfortunately business and commodity cycles affect people as well as companies. We employ a considerable number of Ghanaians in our other sub-Saharan operations, and perhaps in the fullness of time we will be able to re-employ some of our Tarkwa people elsewhere.”

Over recent years, the Group has become established across West Africa.

It will continue to seek opportunities in a wider range of projects involving different minerals and countries in the region, and will also diversify its services outside the mining industry.

Since 2000, Banlaw Africa has grown rapidly to become one of the leading contract mining, civil engineering and construction companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The group has a registered office in Port Louis, Mauritius, an administrative office in Accra, and regional operational offices in Ouagadougou, Abidjan, and Monrovia.