Takoradi, July 30, GNA - Over 700 former miners at Tarawa said on Monday that refusal by management of Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GGL) to pay them their full end-of-service package and to operate the underground mine is costing the nation several millions of cedis.

They said the management of GGL deliberately abandoned the underground mining to enable them concentrate on surface operations. Mr. William Agyei Atinka, Chairman of the GGL ex-workers association, accused management of GGL and Mine Workers Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) at a press conference of manipulating the 1996 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Mr. Atinka said they were paid between 1.5 million cedis (150 Ghana cedis) and three million cedis (300 Ghana cedis) and all efforts made to retrieve the outstanding amounts had failed.

He said though management said the underground mine was not feasible at that time, it was only aimed at deceiving the workers and appealed to the government to investigate who ordered the closure of the underground mine at Tarkwa and the wrongful termination of their appointment.

Mr. Atinka said though the company had established some alternative livelihood projects for affected communities, they were not beneficiaries of the package.

He said sometime ago a new company, Annan Gold Resources, started rehabilitating the underground shafts and other equipment but left the site and has since not been seen.

Mr. Atinka said State Gold Mining Corporation built a clinic and vocational centre for the people in 1993 but management of GGL privatised the hospital, handed over the school to the Ghana Education Service and closed down the vocational centre. A statement signed by Mr. Johan Botha, General Manager of GGL said the company obtained a fiat to close down the underground mine in 1999 after studies showed mining operations were not viable. It said surface operations had proved successful and had provided opportunity for growth.