Kibi (E/R) Sept 11, GNA- Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines on Monday expressed satisfaction with the level of exploratory work being undertaken by Alcoa-Ghana Bauxite and Alumina Company Limited within the Atiwa Forest reserve near Kibi. The reserve, a secondary forest, has being given out by government for exploratory works by Alcoa to determine the level of bauxite deposits for mining purposes to feed the VALCO aluminum Plant at Tema. Prof. Fobih, who toured the exploratory site in the company of some officials of the Ministry with some journalists said very little damage has been done to the forest and the company needed to be commended and encouraged to continue with the exploratory venture.

"With the level of exploration that has been done, if the resource is not mined it remains the asset of the nation and would help future generation to easily identify areas with the resource deposit, " he said.

AlCOA is an American company that has been in existence since 1960 and mines bauxite across the world with major sites in the Caribbean, Australia and Africa.

Prof. Fobih said considering the comprehensive nature of the project with its ability to create jobs at all levels from exploration, through the mining of the bauxite, the refining into Alumina, which would be fed to the Valco plant and smelted into aluminum and used for all kinds of products from roofing sheets to cooking pots, the project needed to the encouraged.

He said bauxite mining did very little destruction to the environment as compared to other forms of mining, because the drilling of the resource did not go beyond 20 meters of the surface level. "In this particular project if mining is to commence, only some hill tops would be affected and not the entirety of the forest reserve as being speculated in some quarters," he said, adding, "Bauxite mining is a better choice if we are to benefit from mining".

He said a lot of people had expressed concern about mining being allowed within the Atiwa forest reserve because they have the conception that it was a primary forest.

"But in actual fact, almost all the timber have been harvested from the forest, leaving a secondary forest, which would not be destroyed if bauxite mining is allowed," he said.

Mr. Augustus Agbeli Amegashie, Project Manager, Alcoa-Ghana Bauxite and Alumina Co. Ltd, who welcomed the Minister and his entourage said the exploratory work is to enable the company to determine the bauxite resources as well as the level of reserve estimates for it to consider if mining would be a worthwhile venture. "This work would help to put together a complete mine design and determine the kind of equipment that would be needed as well as the capital and operation cost estimates that would be needed if mining is permitted," he said.

Mr. Amegashie said bauxite mining did not encourage any illegal miners since all that one could get was dirt, with the aluminum extraction being done in smelter.

He said with the exploration work, the dirt extracted from beneath the earth surface is sent to Surinam for determination, adding that whatever extraction that had been done, a sample had been preserved at a sand bank for use by government, whenever the need arises. Mr. Amegashie said bauxite exploration within the Kibi area started as far back as 1914, and what Alcoa was doing was to validate the truth in the finding over the years as well as determine if the resource was in proportions that would make its mining a profitable venture. "Alcoa has been able to drill about 1,085 holes in a year, which is more than had been achieved in 88 years, " he said.

Mr. Amegashie expressed the hope that if the mining project was allowed to take-off after the exploratory stage, which would not only bring development to the area, but would also expand job avenues in the country.