Wassa district: Moneymaking business or disaster area? A glimpse of gold mining and affected communities in Ghana.

The soil of the Wassa district in southern Ghana contains a big wealth of gold. Several foreign mining companies are situated here to extract this money making metal. As in many cases of natural resource exploitation, the mines bring both money and misery. Wassa district forms no exception.

Kirsten Hund of the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NiZA) and co-ordinator of Fatal Transactions, visited several affected communities together with participants of a inter-regional OECD Watch seminar.
The first community we visited, close to Tarkwa, was located next to the mines exploited by a Canadian gold mining company. Community representatives showed us how, due to the huge piles of cyanide waste, most of their rivers had dried up, and how they were now dependent on the company delivering them 'fresh' water in tanks every week. This water is still not clean. The people complained about cyanide spilling and many associated diseases. Unfortunately, so far no tests have been done of the quality of the water and soil, so that no real conclusions can be drawn as to the level of pollution caused by the mine.

The next day another mine of the same company was visited, close to Prestea. There we experienced some of the blasting that form part of people's daily lives. Explosives are being used on daily bases for extracting gold, making everything in the area shake and fall apart. The hospital, for example, had tears in its walls all over.
Furthermore the communities complained about the constant presence of the army in the town. Apparently they are requested by the government to protect the company, in order to prevent any illegal gold mining ('Galamsay' as the artisanal gold mining is called in Ghana) on the mines' territory. As a consequence people complain about the use of unnecessary violence by soldiers, unlawful arrests, attacks by watchdogs etc. On the way out of Prestea we saw cows grazing on piles and piles of toxic waste.

Everywhere in the gold mining areas you find massive abandoned mining pits. Over the years they have been filled with water, that cannot be used due to the high level of metals and other toxic materials. Nevertheless they are a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes. The level of Malaria infection in the region is massive.
Finally we visited Obuasi, where another multinational has its mines. The landscape in this area is also marked by many abandoned pits and piles of waste. According to the local non-governmental organisation "Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining" (WACAM) the situation in this area has improved slightly since two mining companies from the United States and Ghana merged 4 years ago. Notably with respect to the human rights abuses by security guards. But the blasting and the spread of cyanide waste continues.

We visited one small community in a particular miserable situation: they live right on the slope of the mining company's waste piles. Because of the establishment of the mine, the villagers no longer had access to the road. For a car to arrive in the village, it has to cross the mining territory. Therefore, the community needs to ask permission to the company for the car to cross beforehand. Erosion is rampant, and the water quality is pretty bad. According to the community, whenever there was any blasting, they were supposed to take their children under their arms and run to the other side of the railroad line, to prevent any injuries caused by landslides. The community declared that initially the company had promised to find them alternative land and housing, but has never put this promise into practice. This community used to live by 'garamsay'. As this is now illegal, they have to find alternative ways to survive, which is not easy considering that the mine has occupied all the land formerly used for agriculture.

This field trip clearly shows the other side of the lucrative business in gold mining. Local communities suffer a lot and hardly make any profit. Although mining companies seem to have a social policy, the situation on the ground hardly improves. Besides that, many multinationals in the mining industry don't keep their promises. These facts need to be checked with the mining companies: how do they consider the situation, what have they done so far, if anything, in terms of compensation, social projects, etc.?

Fatal Transactions, together with its African and European partners, will continue to investigate mallpractices in the African mining sector.