Illegal miners at Obuasi are said to be invading the underground concessions of AngloGold Ashanti Limited without fear of being arrested.

Kwame Addo Kufuor, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, AngloGold Ashanti made this known to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE yesterday in Accra when he led a team of officials from his department on a visit to Western Publications, publishers of DAILY GUIDE and other publications.

“When our workers go underground, they meet strangers there. But when they call them to come over and identify themselves, they don’t mind them.”

Mr Addo Kufuor, who said illegal mining was taking alarming proportions, called for national support to help fight the menace.

He revealed that such situations usually unfold when the price of gold increases on the international market and illegal miners try to go all lengths to obtain gold.

Currently, he said AngloGold Ashanti is said to battling as many as 9,000 illegal miners on its concession.

According to him, Government has to immediately pay attention to illegal mining since it was breeding all forms of vices in the mining communities.

A lot of foreigners, he noted, have also gone into illegal mining, which often leaves in its trail unwanted deaths.

AngloGold Ashanti in March, this year, rolled out ‘Merekat’, a campaign about safety in mining operations in Ghana.

The company, as part of its corporate social responsibility, has provided water and electricity to towns and villages within its catchment areas.

AngloGold Ashanti’s post-merger activities have also seen about 200 youth undergoing training in various fields of craftsmanship at Obuasi currently while about 60 are being trained at Eduakrom.

Chief among the company’s efforts are its malaria programme at Wa, Western region and some other 40 towns across the country.

AngloGold Ashanti is also working assiduously to access a $135 million Global Fund facility to undertake various live enhancement projects for residents at Obuasi and its environs.