Northern Ashanti Mines to start operations October

The Northern Ashanti Mines Company Limited (NAMCL), a subsidiary of Nguvu Mining Limited, is to commence full mining operations.

Located at Konongo in the Asante-Akim Central Municipality in the Ashanti Region, the mine has been under care and maintenance since 2013, and now gearing up to commence full-scale open-pit mining operations in October 2025.

Consequently, the management of the company has visited Manyhia to inform the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, about the plans and to seek his support in combating illegal mining and encroachment of sensitive locations within the mine operations areas.  

Briefing

Briefing the Asantehene on the operations of the company, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nguvu, Angela List, who led the delegation, said the company was holding a concession for mining and prospecting covering an area of 163 km2 in the Konongo enclave.

She said the construction of the process plant was progressing steadily and was scheduled to be completed by June 2025.

She stated that a Ghanaian-owned Engineering Consulting company, MAC Engineering Projects and Consultancy (MAC Partners), a subsidiary of MAC Partners Group, was executing the project which, among other things, included undertaking a total refurbishment of the existing process plant and upgrading the plant to a 200tph plant.

Illegal mining activities

Ms List said following the directive to withdraw all military personnel from the mine locations in 2020, the mine had seen an influx of illegal mining activities on all the pits earmarked for mining after the completion of the plant construction.

“The Mine take areas, including Kyiribin West, Mpamprom extension, Fiagyegbe, Atonsu Kookoase, Obenemase, Patriensa, Nyaboo, Odumase Kwakawkaw and others, have all been seized by illegal mining operators.

The illegal mining operators have installed pumps to empty pits earmarked for mining activities to access the ore body for their illegal mining operations,” she stated. 

The Nguvu CEO expressed concern that the wanton degrading of the concession by the illegal mining activities would ultimately increase the production cost due to the dilution of ore material on the concession and ultimately loss of revenue for the mine and the government.

“Unfortunately, illegal mining activities are putting the validity of the project into question, which would impact decisions towards the resumption of mining operations,” she stated.

Security threat

Ms List said apart from occupying the concession areas, the actions of the illegal miners posed an existential threat to the community as they had heavily polluted the water bodies within the mine’s concession and also used explosives and military-style ammunition posed a serious threat to the NAMCL’s operations and its employees, as well as the community within its operations.

She stated that the situation had been so bad that the company had had the cause to remove some security staff from the Konongo township following threats on their lives by some of the illegal miners.

“Your Majesty, the mine is also concerned about the damage being caused to housing, farmlands and other infrastructure on the concession such as electricity poles and other Electricity Company of Ghana installations.

“Our employees are always working in fear due to the constant threat posed by the illegal miners who are always heavily armed for their nefarious activities.

The security officers are continuously threatened by the illegal mining operators. 

Ms List, therefore, appealed to the Asantehene to implore all stakeholders, including the chiefs and other political actors, to assist management in decommissioning and removing all ammunition, equipment and machinery installed on the company’s concession. 

Otumfuo assures

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II welcomed the news of the company starting operations, saying he would help create job opportunities for the youth in the community.

He gave the assurance that he would engage the relevant stakeholders to ensure the colossal investment of the company was harnessed to the benefit of the company, the community and the country.