General News of Friday, 1 March 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

RE: How ‘C&G Alesksa’ mining destroyed 24,000 acres virgin forest reserve in Denkyira

The attention of C&G Aleksa Co. Ltd, a licensed mining company, has been drawn to news items indicating it has allegedly connived with Chinese nationals to destroy 24,000 acres of virgin forest.

The publications also alleged the company has sold part of its concessions to illegal miners. We deny this story in its entirety and wish to place on record that we are a licenced mining company, which has been unfairly dealt with by the Inter Ministerial Task Force on Illegal Mining and other government agencies.

We acquired a mining lease agreement dated December 23, 2016, between the Government of Ghana acting through the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources on the one part and on the other part, the government of Ghana granted a mining lease over an area measuring approximately 21.54 square kilometres within the Upper Wassaw Forest Reserve in the Western Region for the plaintiff to mine for gold for a period of 10 years.

Prior to the grant of the mining lease, we obtained the necessary entry permits from the Forestry Commission to enable us to commence operations in the Upper Wassaw Forest Reserve in the Western Region.

We entered the Upper Wassaw Forest Reserve to prepare the mining concession in order to commence mining operations.

In the course of the preparatory works to commence mining activities, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on illegal mining taskforce on February 9, 2019, invaded the company’s mining concession, seized its machinery, equipments and moneys without taking inventory and without any form of explanation.
The seized equipment and moneys run into several millions of cedis.

We have since the seizure, not been able to operate. We have petitioned the Presidency and even filed a suit at the High Court against the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Attorney-General, demanding that our moneys and equipment be released to us among other reliefs.

Our licensed company, which operates under strict environmental compliance, is clearly the victim of the situabon as illegal miners have taken over our lands. They are destroying portions of the land assigned us and it is,