Regional News Tue, 30 Sep 2008

Task Force to monitor mining operations in West Akyem

Asamankese, Sept. 30, GNA - The West Akyem Municipal Assembly is to form a task force to monitor activities of mining companies operating in the municipality. The task force will seek to bring sanity in mining operations, including enforcing safety regulations. Announcing this at a sitting of the Assembly at Asamankese, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Kwabena Sintim-Aboagye, disclosed that on August 24, one Kwame Ofosu reportedly fell and drowned in one of the pits dug to unearth minerals by one of the mining companies. He said the assembly had had numerous meetings with mining companies working in some communities in the municipality on the need to abide by safety regulations. The discussions centred mainly on effect of their operations on the environment, non-fulfillment of their social responsibilities and the safety of both the inhabitants and the workers of those companies. He warned that the task force would vigorously do its work and said when the exercise began, "let no one perceive it to be politically motivated, but to view it as a way of bringing sanity in mining operations in the municipality and to prevent further deaths".


Source: GNA