Sunyani, April 8, GNA - Mr Randy Barnes, External Affairs Manager of the Ahafo Mine of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) on Tuesday assured farmers within the company's operational area of fair, transparent and adequate compensation packages.

Speaking at the inauguration of a committee to review crop rates in Sunyani, Mr Barnes said the company was fully committed to keeping to regulations and laws governing the mining industry. The committee, made up of representatives of NGGL, regulatory agencies, NGOs, as well as farmers and communities affected by the Ahafo project, is to help negotiate and establish agreement for crop compensation rates.

Mr Barnes explained that following the enactment of a new minerals and mining act, operators in the mining industry were working to continuously improve the processes to fully implement the requirements of the new law concerning compensation. This, he noted, would go a long way to ensuring that there was continued good relationship between mining companies and the host communities.

Mr Barnes said Newmont had continuously evolved its system of negotiating with farmers to determine compensation rates and that the system focused on providing a fair, transparent and democratic manner of representation of farmers within the area of its operation. Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister explained that the government cherished and believed in democracy and would not fail to ensure the full operation of the fundamental human rights of its citizens and advised the farmers not to let any group to influence them on negotiations which might lead to tension in their communities. He noted with concern that surface mining led to serious environmental degradation, stressing that such destruction of the environment by some mining companies had also led to civil strife and the disruption of their operations in some part of the country. Mr Baffour-Awuah urged Newmont to strengthen its environment programmes to make live meaningful to the communities.