{"id":467587,"date":"2018-02-26T07:09:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T07:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/02\/26\/mineworkers-reject-anglogolds-contract-mining-proposal\/"},"modified":"2018-02-26T07:09:39","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T07:09:39","slug":"mineworkers-reject-anglogolds-contract-mining-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/02\/26\/mineworkers-reject-anglogolds-contract-mining-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Mineworkers reject Anglogold\u2019s contract mining proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Business News of Monday, 26 February 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>thebftonline.com<\/p>\n<p>2018-02-26<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/11008714.295.jpg\" alt=\"Prince William Ankrah\" title=\"Prince William Ankrah\" width=\"295\" height=\"190\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Prince William Ankrah, General Secretary, Ghana Mineworkers&#8217; Union (GMWU)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1519628979_7_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\"> The Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) has rejected moves by mining giant AngloGold Ashanti to move from owner mining to contract mining, a trend the union is already battling Goldfields Limited over in the law courts.<\/p>\n<p>The union, in a press statement, called on Parliament to not ratify the Development Agreement for Anglogold\u2019s Obuasi mine, which the company announced recently that it is reviving with an investment of some US$500million.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the union is proposing a \u2018Mining Charter\u2019, \u201cthat seeks to bring in the influence of the community and monitoring mechanisms in the implementing period\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The call for a mining charter, according to the union, is to facilitate sustainable transformation, growth and development of the mining and minerals industry, which will ensure that the nation and mining communities are not short-changed by mining firms negotiating separate development agreements.<\/p>\n<p>The union said although it welcomes redevelopment of the Obuasi Mine, it is completely against the contract mining idea whereby Anglogold would cede direct operation of the mine to a third party.<\/p>\n<p>When it adopted the contract mining approach, Goldfields explained that it had an aging fleet against the fact that the life-expectancy of its Tarkwa Mine is short \u2013 which does not make direct operations viable.<\/p>\n<p>The union however noted that: \u201cA critical concern has to do with the emerging unflinching appetite by mining companies for fixed-term contracts as well as non-standard work patterns that seek to exploit such a skilled workforce.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere, the union is poised to challenge the status-quo to avert any such contemplation.  In effect, it is illogical to have a mine with a two-decade mine-life backed by enough mineral reserves put employees in an employment format likely to impact negatively on their performance. Indeed, the ILO asserts that insecure jobs have a negative impact on productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It further said: \u201cAngloGold Ashanti should note that the union has already secured a Collective Bargaining Certificate that allows it to negotiate on behalf of existing as well as potential new members\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The call for a mining charter according to the union is to facilitate sustainable transformation, growth and development of the mining and minerals industry \u2013 which will ensure that the nation and mining communities are not short-changed by mining firms negotiating separate DA\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>AngloGold\u2019s Announcement on Obuasi Mine<\/p>\n<p>AngloGold Ashanti last week announced that it would revive the Obuasi Gold Mine soon after reaching an agreement with government for redevelopment of the mine, turning it into a \u201cmodern productive mining operation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The company said it will invest an initial US$500million in bringing the mine back to life, with first gold pour expected in the third quarter of 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement also includes a development agreement and a tax concession agreement that is awaiting parliamentary approval, as well as a security agreement \u2013 and a reclamation security agreement while environmental impact assessments are completed, as well.<\/p>\n<p>Data from Anglogold show that, with a mining life of 21 years, Obuasi has reserves of 5.8 million ounces and will operate at costs lower than the company\u2019s current average.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 49 updated by: 49 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business News of Monday, 26 February 2018 Source: thebftonline.com 2018-02-26 Prince William Ankrah, General Secretary, Ghana Mineworkers&#8217; Union (GMWU) The Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) has rejected moves by mining giant AngloGold Ashanti to move from owner mining to contract mining, a trend the union is already battling Goldfields Limited over in the law courts. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":467588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-467587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}