NGOs Urges World Bank not Support Newmont's Ahafo
By: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: '31-JAN-06 05:00' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2004
RENO--(Mineweb.com) A coalition of Ghanaian and international NGOs has asked the World Bank to postpone funding of a $125 million IFC loan to Newmont Mining for the development of the Ahafo gold mining project in western Ghana.
Groups opposed to the project claim that the mine will displace more than 9,000 people, at least 95% of whom are subsistence farmers. Keith Slack, Senior Policy Advisor for Oxfam America, claimed that "Given the problems we have already seen with this project, and the bank's poor track record in managing mining project in general, we do not think the bank should support this project at this time."
Mike Anane of the human rights NGO Fian-Ghana said that the World Bank needs to ensure that land and natural water resources aren't damaged by the Ahafo project, "if it expects to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development."
A report prepared by the Montana-based environmental NGO Center for Science in Public Participation questioned the data and methodology submitted by Newmont to the IFC. "Newmont should commit, or be required to commit, to reasonable worst-case scenario environmental protection, mitigation, and monitoring until reliable and conclusive data indicates that lesser standards will protect human health and the environment," according to researchers David Chambers and Stuart M. Leavit.
Chambers and Leavit asserted that Newmont proposes "to employ significantly less stringent human health or environmental standards in Ghana compared to, for instance, what Newmont employs at its projects in the United States. There is no reason why the Ghanaian people and the Ghanaian environment should be subject to less than the most reasonable stringent protections and practices."
The duo also called for the use of the INCO SO2 process to lower the level of cyanide before it enters the project tailings pond "as is common practice in North America." They claimed that the tailings pond design "is adequate to contain the toxic contents intended to be reposited forever and significantly ignore standard practices and potential liabilities from failure."
Meanwhile, their report also asserted that "wetlands value and performance are not sufficiently considered."
Radhika Sarin, International Program Coordinator at the Washington, DC-based EARTHWORKS environmental NGO called on World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz "to take strong action to ensure that the company complies with the highest human rights and environmental criteria."
Newmont hopes to begin production from the $350 million Ahafo project during the second half of this year. The project will be developed in two phases with the development of four open-pit gold mines, and is anticipated to generate 500,000 ounces of gold annually over its 15-year mine life. More than 9,500 local residents will be impacted by the mine either through relocation or the loss of farmland. However, Newmont has prepared several versions of a resettlement plan to reduce the scope of the impacts caused by the displacement.
Newmont has also conducted extensive community consultations in the surrounding area, according to documents filed with the IFC.
