General News of Sunday, 8 April 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-04-08
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu
Even before the Minerals Commission completes investigations into the Saturday accident at Newmont Ghana’s Ahafo mine that claimed the six lives, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources is clear in his mind there were some engineering lapses that led to the accident.
Speaking to the media after he had examined the scene of the accident, Mr. Amewu described the incident as a tragedy, but pointed out that some structural adjustments could have prevented the tunnel from caving in.
“It’s a complete structural failure. You realise that during the process of casting the concrete, the concrete caved in. Investigations are still going on but it’s clear that the prop that supports the slabs might not be well placed and that could trigger stresses that enabled this slab to cave in.”
The Minerals Commission has taken over the site as investigations are underway. The Commission’s Principal Inspector of Mines for the Ashanti Region is leading the investigations with help from the police.
Mr Amewu said he expects the probe to scrutinise the structural design of the tunnel that caved in.
“This is a complete civil engineering failure. The team will investigate as far as even looking at some of the detailed designs, the structural designs and as to whether the designs had taken into consideration the load of concrete above it,” the Minister said.
What we know so far
The collapse happened at around midday on Saturday, April 7, when 10 workers were working on a reclaim tunnel on the Ahafo Mill Expansion project.
Two of the workers were above pouring some concrete when the roof of the tunnel caved in, also leading to some concrete spilling on some of the eight workers below and trapping them.
An emergency recovery team was dispatched immediately after the accident and they were able to rescue two of the eight workers who were below when the collapse occurred.
The deceased were all contracted workers with Consar Limited, a construction services company.
The mine has assured it is cooperating with the regulatory authorities carrying out investigations. It has also halted operations at the Ahafo mine and its sister mine at Akyem.