The Ghana Police Service and the traditional authorities in Hwidiem in the Asutifi North District of the Ahafo Region have retrieved a body believed to be an illegal artisanal miner in the Newmont Ghana Ahafo mines operational area.
The body was found specifically in Ahafo mine’s Apensu pit area on Friday, 10 June 2022.
Last Friday, the local police and traditional authorities sought permission from the company for a group of illegal artisanal miners to have access to its operational area in search of a colleague they believed might have fallen into the pit.
The company granted access, and the body was located, identified, and retrieved from an illegal mining pit dug within the Ahafo mine’s Apensu pit area.
After the recovery of the body, information spread on social media, with reports speculating that the illegal miner had been shot and killed by guards of Newmont Ghana.
However, Newmont Ghana has dispelled the allegations indicating that their private security guards could not have shot and killed the illegal miner because their security personnel do not carry guns.
“Newmont Ghana’s private security contractors are unarmed as per Ghanaian law,” Alex Kofi Annin, Acting General Manager, Ahafo mine, said in the release.
“The police are investigating, and we are fully cooperating with them to establish the cause of the death,” he added.
Below is a copy of the Newmont Ghana press release:
