AngloGold Ashanti’s Iduapriem Mine has provided financial support to 115 students from its host communities, paying their school fees for the 2012 - 2013 academic year.

The Iduapriem Mine Community Scholarship Scheme reflects the company’s aim to make the communities in which it operates better off for it being there, by supporting key district development goals in the area of education. The scheme is designed to increase equitable access to and participation in education at all levels.

The GHC120,000 sponsorship package ensured full payment of the 115 beneficiaries’ school fees for the 2012-2013 academic year. The awards help students enrolled in government senior high schools, tertiary and vocational schools. The scheme was created in 2009, sponsoring 10 students in its first year. Since then, the project has ramped up significantly. AngloGold Ashanti has donated over GHC 200,000 through the scheme, helping over 200 students from host communities around its Iduapriem Mine to date.

At a recently held ceremony, presenting the scholarship awards, Mr. Emmanuel Baidoo, Senior Manager for Sustainability, AngloGold Ashanti, Iduapriem Mine, expressed the company’s ongoing commitment to enhance the quality of educational opportunities available to people living in the mine’s host communities.

The Chief of Teberebie community, Nana Kojo Minnah II, congratulated the team at AngloGold Ashanti’s Iduapriem Mine for its efforts in the area of education. He highlighted the positive impact this has on students from the host communities. In addition to the award scheme, he cited projects including the provision of improved infrastructure for the Teberebie Basic School and the donation of minibuses and computers to basic and senior high schools in September 2012.

The Chief of Teberebie also urged parents to show more interest in the education of their children and support them at each stage of their educational development.