Sunyani, May 7, GNA - Miss Joyce R. Aryee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines has commended Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) for its immense contributions in helping to alleviate the plight of affected people in its operational area of the Ahafo project at Kenyasi.

She said NGGL had contributed meaningfully in the provision of infrastructure, health and educational development, as well as empowering the affected people through the provision of agricultural inputs.

Miss Aryee made the commendation when she paid a courtesy call on Mr. Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister in Sunyani on Monday. Some officials of NGGL were present. The CEO was in Sunyani to interact with the media as part of her working visits to mining regions in the country. "Mining instigates migration", Ms. Aryee said, and urged mining companies not to make the exploitation of the resources their only priority, but to consider the conditions of affected communities by initiating measures that could help alleviate their plight. She noted that Brong-Ahafo abound in industrial minerals such as clay, which could be used in real estates development and by pharmaceutical industries.

"Clay is a major resource in the region and once the people realize there is monetary gain they would begin to venture into it," Mrs. Aryee said and advised local investors to go into clay production. Mrs. Aryee emphasised that deliberate policies should be targeted at the exploitation and utilization of the country's minerals to diversify the social and economic benefits derived from mining. Mr Nyamekye-Marfo said galamsey operation (illegal mining) was becoming a problem at Kenyasi and its environs and warned that the Regional Security Council had initiated moves to flush out perpetrators. He stressed that the Chamber would ensure that mining companies improved alternative livelihood projects in mining areas and would also ensured the judicious utilization of royalties paid to mining communities to benefit the local people. Mr. Agbeko Mensah, Senior Communications Manager of NGGL, expressed worry about how some of the local people invested in speculative structures immediately the company announced a moratorium on its concessions in order to receive compensation. This behaviour, he said, posed a serious threat to the mining industry.