Obuasi, Sept. 10, GNA - After several hours of searching at the 3,300 feet down the Ellis Shaft mine at Obuasi, the AngloGold Ashanti rescue team could only retrieve the decomposed left foot, wrist and some intestines of the body of an illegal miner (galamseyer) who was trapped at that depth during one of his illegal operations last Friday. The rest of the body of the galamseyer identified as Domachele Sule, 22 is still buried under heavy rocks at the Ellis mine and the rescue team was still working around the clock to retrieve the rest of the mutilated body.

Family sources said Domachele, an JSS graduate left his Ahansoyewodea home last Friday at 2100 hours for the illegal mining activity at the Ellis mine, a property belonging to Anglogold Ashanti. Just last Monday, another galamseyer met his tragic end at Sansu when he fell from a truck carrying gold quartz to the company's weighing bridge near the George Cappendell Shaft (GCS). Kassum Bawa had boarded the truck secretly to steal gold quartz when the incident happened.

Mr. Isaac Kofi Mensah-Brobbey, the Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) manager of AngloGold Ashanti noted that the way the country was losing its human resources through illegal mining needed a concerted effort of all to check the practice.

He was particularly worried about these illegal miners disregard to safety practices as they go underground working areas of the mine with Charlie wotes, torch lights and the rest which do not guarantee their safety.

Mr Mensah-Brobbey condemned the practice where galamseyers use the big compressed air pipes fitted in the Ellis shaft to get to the abandoned working areas of the mine, "so the least slip results in either serious injuries or fatality", he added.

The SHE Manager said the company had put in measures, including the erection of re-inforced concrete barriers to prevent the galamseyers from entering underground but "they still use unidentified routes". Mr. Aboagye Ohene Adu, the Community and Social Development Manager of the mine said the galamseyers activities should not be seen as a matter between the company and the illegal miners. He said both the communities and the country would be affected should the mine collapse as a result of the activities of the galamseyers.

He said the Company recently organised a month-long sensitization programme to educate the mining communities to appreciate the dangers and the health and safety implications of the galamsey operations.