Gold Mining Company Poised to Dig at Ghana’s Crater Lake

By Mike Anane

ACCRA, Ghana, November 15, 2004 (ENS) - A Canadian mining company has been granted one of the two permits it needs to explore the area around the Ghana's largest natural lake for gold deposits. Lake Bosumtwi is inhabited by many unique and threatened species and is considered so sacred that no metal boats are allowed to touch its waters.

The Canadian exploration and development company seeking the permits is Norcan Resources Ltd., a subsidiary of AMI Resources Incorporated, based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Investigations conducted by this writer reveal that the Ghana’s Minerals Commission has already granted Norcan prospecting licenses for the Lake Bosumtwi area.

Ben Aryee, executive director of the Minerals Commission, could not be reached for his comment. Chief Director of the Ministry of Mines Ohene Okai said he knows nothing about Norcan.

But in June, the company announced that it had "finally received notification from the Minerals Commission of Ghana that they will be recommending the granting of our new license application in the Ashanti region to the Minister of Mines. Upon payment of the normal license fees and permits, the Minister of Mines will issue a license for an initial two year period with renewals available upon application," wrote Norcan's Chief Executive Officer Dustin Elford. The company will hold 100 percent interest in this new concession subject to a 10 percent carried interest by the Ghanaian government.

The company has yet to clear the second and last hurdle, which is the granting of an environmental permit by the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency.

Lake Bosumtwi is located in Ghana's southcentral region. (Photo credit unknown)

Norcan’s Beposo mining area - comprising the Adumasa, Pemenase and Ankasi projects - occupies 135 square kilometers in the Ashanti region, world famous for its gold deposits.

Norcan’s Ankasi project, where the company intends to prospect for gold, borders the ecologically sensitive area of Lake Bosumtwi. Any exploratory drilling or prospecting for gold at the Ankasi concession presents a risk to Lake Bosumtwi and the environmental and social health of the area.

For Ghanaians, Lake Bosumtwi is a prized resource. Its waters support threatened migratory bird species, as well as many unique fish and plant species, including a variety of endemic cichlid fishes, Tilapia discolor, which scientists warn could follow the dinosaurs down the road to extinction.

The ecosystem also performs valuable services for the immediate communities such as moderating floods and droughts and sustaining commercial fisheries and tourism.

The proposed exploratory drilling for mineral deposits in this ecologically fragile area will alter the ecosystem and affect the local communities who depend directly on the lake’s bounty for their livelihoods.

If gold is found in commercial quantities, exploitation could require the relocation of thousands of local people.

Since mining moves enormous quantities of earth, the siltation of Lake Bosumtwi will be difficult to avoid.

In addition, the lake and surrounding area would be subject to such environmental impacts as acid mine drainage, water, soil and crop contamination by heavy metals, and the possibility of cyanide contamination that go along with open pit mining.

An accidental spill of cyanide laced wastewater could damage the entire lake and its related waterways, jeopardizing the livelihood and sacred sites of lakeside communities, and causing a species imbalance in the ecosystem. Because the region is prone to floods, these risks are increased.

The project could also open the door to other mining companies interested in the area.

The traditional leaders and the people of the Bosumtwi area say that Norcan has not properly consulted with them about the exploratory mining project.

Located approximately 32 kilometres southeast of Kumasi, the capital of Ghana’s Ashanti Region, Lake Bosumtwi was created by the impact of a meteor. It lies in a deep circular crater surrounded by steep hills up to 400 meters (1,300 feet) high covered by lush tropical rainforest.

Lake Bosumtwi cover an area of about 47 square kilometers and is 86 meters deep. A number of small streams flow into it but there is no drainage - no river flows out from this terminal lake.

Apart from providing an opportunity for fishing for the 30 small villages dotting the perimeter of the lake, Bosumtwi is also a favorite tourist destination.

For Ashantis, this large crater lake is sacred. After death, the soul of an Ashanti is believed to go to Lake Bosumtwi to bid farewell to the god Twi before entering the afterlife.

Local men of Lake Bosumtwi navigate the lake on wooden planks. (Photo courtesy University of Syracuse Department of Earth Sciences)

Scientists believe that the lake holds clues to Africa's climate past. Local and international limnalogists and archaeologists continually visit the lake and its environs in hopes of unearthing some of its two million year old secrets.

The government's move to give Norcan the green light to begin exploratory drilling for gold in the Busomtwi area is seen as part of a grand design to open up as many areas as possible in Ghana to the mining industry.

Norcan appears to have excellent connections in high places, and high powered lobbyists are pressuring regulatory agencies to give their blessing to the project.

Nevertheless, government officials across the board have refused to comment on the status of Norcan's permit application or have denied that the government will permit mining at Lake Bosumtwi.

When the Executive Director of Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency Jonathan Addo Allotey was contacted to find out whether the agency will grant Norcan environmental permits for the Ankasi project, he declined to comment.

The Acting Director of the Geological Survey Department Philip Oduro Amoako said he had just assumed the position and he had no idea of the issue.

At the Ministry of Tourism, Sonne Joel, director of policy and planning, said he had not seen any document relating to gold prospecting in the Lake Bosumtwi area. “But," he said, "I can assure you that this ministry will not support any prospecting or mining activity in that area.”