Browsing by Author "Asante-Manteaw, Abraham"

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    An appraisal of the land access processes in the mining industry of Ghana: the case of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) Ahafo Mine
    (2011-06-06) Asante-Manteaw, Abraham
    The Mining Industry has contributed immensely to the development of the country over the years as a result of favourable investment climate and the high prices of the precious metals at the world market. Consequently, this has intensified mining activities which require the compulsory acquisition of large tracts of land from the communities in which they operate. The land acquisition process which takes its “power” from the 1992 Constitution and the Minerals and Mining Act 703 of 2006, has various critical factors which when not carefully handled trigger conflicts between the companies and the communities in which their operate. Whereas all mining companies claim to be following the legal requirements in the land acquisition process, the art of implementation differ and this has often degenerated into fatal conflicts. Could there be a way to reverse this trend? If not, why not? This research work thus, takes a close look at the legal requirements of the law regarding Land acquisition under the Constitution of Ghana, the new Minerals and Mining Act 703, two International Best Practices in relation to the practice of land acquisition by Newmont Ahafo Mine. The study revealed among other things a high consistency and fairness of Newmont’s practice with these benchmarks. It also revealed some gaps in the Act 703 in relation to the International Best Practices and some remarkable contributions of the mining activities to the development of communities within and outside the concession in terms of employment opportunities and the provision of social amenities. These notwithstanding, the implementation of Mining Area declaration provisions in the Act 703 by Newmont was strongly rejected by the communities. Useful suggestions have been given for consideration in the framing of the Legislative Instrument to address the gaps in the Act 703.