Abutia chiefs fume over mining of lithium in Kalakpa forest and game reserve

Abutia Traditional Authority in the Ho West District of the Volta region has called on the Minerals Commission and the central government to immediately halt any attempt to mine lithium in the Kalakpa Forest and Game Reserve in their area.

On February 29, 2024, the Ghanaian Times newspaper published that, a mining firm, X10 Resources, based in Kumasi has shown an interest in mining lithium in parts of the reserve, hence the public is given a 21-day to raise objections.

During the 2024 Asafotu Easter celebration in Abutia Gorve, the Paramount Chief of Abutia Traditional Area, Togbega Abutia Kodzo Gidi V said the move is illegal mining and he would not allow it to happen.

He explained that the Minerals Commission including other stakeholders have not consulted his outfit including the individual landowners who are all indigenes of Abutia.

"We have not been consulted, the people of Abutia are not happy about that and we are not going to allow it to happen," the chief said on Saturday (March 30).

According to the announcement by the Minerals Commission, land owners and traditional authorities in the North Tongu District have been consulted by the mining firm and the Minerals Commission because the demarcated areas for mining fall under the North Tongu enclave.

But Togbega Abutia noted that no part of the forest reserve belongs to the people of North Tongu but only Adaklu and Abutia.

The Chief explained that the reserve shares a boundary with North Tongu but no portions of the forest belong to any individual from the Tongu area.

"We have realised that they've classified those areas (areas to be mined) as if they are within North Tongu. That one is not contestable, even the people in Agortive and Avetakpo know the land on which they are is for Abutia. Maybe someone somewhere didn't do their work properly to have assumed that those areas are for North Tongu," the Chief claimed.

The areas the mining firm is set to explore are Agortive and Avetakpo. These are farming communities within the forest.

An opinion leader of Abutia, Nelson Adom explained that residents of the farming communities within the forest are not indigenes of Abutia but rather settlers from the Tongu areas who were allowed by the forefathers of Abutia to farm in the forest to protect it against poaching.

"Those people living in the land are settlers, it was our grandfathers and fathers who put them there to protect the land for them, they know that the land does not belong to them but because we are far from them that is why they want to play smart."

He further mentioned that the forest belongs to the people of Abutia and it has been demarcated and documented.

"All these lands are traditionally owned by Abutia citizens, it's a known demarcated, everything has been demarcated for years under Abutia, surprisingly all these started happening" he bemoaned.

According to them, the forest is reserved for tourism and hospitality purposes but over the years "that purpose has been defeated" Nelson said.

The community members say they shall "fight to our last blood" just to prevent the mining activity. They say they would welcome any developer that would develop the place for tourism and hospitality but not excavate the land for underneath minerals.

"The question is how do we blend mining with tourism? That's number one, number two, where is the environmental impact assessment report to the community? We've not seen it," another resident, Nelson asked.

Togbega Abutia said his community would not allow the mining to happen, however, they shall consider legal action against the decision and if that doesn't work, they shall fight in their way to resist the mining.

The Kalakpa Forest Reserve is the largest natural reserve in the Volta region, it covers an area of over 32,000 hectares of land.

The forest has rosewood including a variety of tree and animal species.

Over the years, poaching has degraded portions of the forest, especially in Adaklu areas but in Abutia areas, residents have stood against all illegal activities in the forest.