PLANS by Gold Fields to convert its Tarkwa mine in Ghana to contractor-based mining could lead to protests and strikes, said Bloomberg News citing the West African country’s largest mineworkers’ union which threatened the action.
Gold Fields is committing “… acts of corporate greed aimed at amassing huge profits at the expense of Ghanaian mine workers,” Prince William Ankrah, general secretary of the 16,000-member Ghana Mine Workers Union told Bloomberg News. “We cannot allow this to happen, all the reasons given by Gold Fields are flawed,” he said.
Gold Fields decided to hire a contractor at Tarkwa because the mine’s remaining reserves don’t last long enough to justify the cost of replacing its ageing minine fleet, the company has said. Tarkwa produces about 550,000 ounces of gold annually and has about five to six years left for its current design, said Bloomberg News.
“We will send a delegation to protest at the company’s next annual general meeting to let all shareholders know how their management is cheating workers,” said Ankrah. More than 2,000 staff could be dismissed.
