Sunday, 26 August 2012

SOLAR MINES FOR COURT

The Solar Mines a mining company which was cited  for engaging in illegal mining practices and strictly banned by the government would soon be dragged to court.

The company would go to court to answer questions pertaining to some of the alleged fraudulent dealings. This was due to petitions made by some chiefs and their people of the affected communities over the meager compensations paid to farmers whose lands were desecrated.

Area  affected as the result of the company’s illegal practices were Akyem  Abuakwa  Juaso near Osino and Atewa.

The Environmental  Protection Agency (EPA)in collaboration with some responsible bodies of the sector has taken the initiate, a source from the EPA had disclosed to this paper.

According to the source , a series of meeting were held some few weeks ago where the court case was mentioned.

One of the reasons believed to have prompted the group to sue the company was the use of heavy duty machines  to deliberately destroy the Atewa Forest Reserve in its purported two years of operations.

Meanwhile, in a recent statement issued and signed by the Executive Director of WACAM, Mr. Daniel Owusu-Koranteng , expressed greats concern over the treacherous deeds of the company.

He indicated that the unreasonable compensations paid to the coca farmers in such affected areas were not enough and thus violates the Minerals and Mining Act of Ghana.

The Director highlighted that WACAM’s contacts with the affected farmers in the area revealed that Solar Mining Company paid one hundred thousand and two hundred Ghana cedi (1,000 to 1,200 Ghana cedi ) as a compensation for an acre of cocoa farm which could contain 450 to 600 cocoa trees.

Mr. Owusu Koranteng further added that when one translate the compensation rate of about 2 to 3 Ghana cedi for a cocoa tree would only earn a cocoa farmer at least 25 to 30 Ghana cedi per year for the economic life of cocoa for about 50 to 60 years.

In his analysis he stipulated  that in section 73(3) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) requires all mining companies to negotiate compensation with affected farmers based on the compensation principles, whiles section 74 of the Act states that “the owner or lawful occupier may be entitled  to compensation for (a) the deprivation of the use or a particular use of a particular use of a natural surface of the land ; (b) loss of or damage to immovable properties; (c) in the case of the land under cultivation, loss of earnings or sustenance suffered by the owner or lawful occupier, having due regard to the nature of their interest  in the land ;(d) loss of expected income depending on the nature of crops on the land and their life expectancy’’.

‘’the company has blatantly violated all these sections of all the Minerals and Mining Act and has gone ahead to reap so much profit from its illegal operations through the paltry compensation it had paid to the farmer in the area’’.

He condemned a recent media publications about the company’s illegal surface operations where the managing Director , Mr. Samuel Odalai Lamptey argued that the company was operating legally and was waiting to be licensed because it had forward all the proper and legal documents to the minerals Commission and had satisfied all necessary prescribed by law.

Upon a crosscheck embarked at the EPA from Mr. Ransford Sekyi, the Deputy Director of Mines by WACAM confirmed that Solar Mining Company does not have an environmental permit and the company was operating illegally.

This presupposes that Solar Mining is operating without due regard to environmental protection.

Mr. Lamptey justified the operations of  Solar Mining as not illegal because it sells its gold to the Precious Mineral Marketing Company (PMMC).

According to Mr. Lamptey the illegal operations of Solar Mining had benefited the people in the area because the company had offered employment to 500 people and had provided funds for the building of a modern palace at Osino as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.

‘’It is an illogical argument for the Managing Director of Solar Mining Company to use employment generations and Corporate Social Responsibly  project s justify an illegal business that has grave social environment and economic consequences’’. The  Wacam  boss said.

No comments:

Post a Comment