More than 400 workers of Northern Ashanti Mines Limited Company (NAMLC) have asked President John Dramani Mahama to intervene for the reopening of the mine.
The workers presented their petition through the Municipal Chief Executive of Asante Akim Central, Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Ekow Aidoo.
The mine was taken over by the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS).
Speaking when the petition was presented at the Asante Akim Central Municipal Assembly on November 6, the Community Relations Officer, Amponsah Alfred Oduro, said staff were left stranded after the takeover on Friday, October 22.
They were ordered to leave the mine within three hours.According to the workers, the short notice did not allow them to take their personal belongings.
Some workers who were on break still have their items locked up in bungalows and offices.
The workers said the sudden closure has left over 430 employees without their main source of income, pushing hundreds of families and thousands of dependents into hardship.
They said over 40% of the workforce came from the host communities. The closure has also hit local businesses, suppliers, transport operators and other service providers
.While accepting government’s duty to protect natural resources and enforce mining laws, the workers appealed for a compassionate and constructive way to deal with the issues that led to the termination of the mining lease.
The Community Relations Officer explained that before the closure, Northern Ashanti Mines was carrying out major expansion works.
This included building a Processing Plant expected to start operating in the first quarter of 2027, stockpiling of mined ore, and buying 17 forty-foot containers of equipment which are now stuck at the port awaiting customs clearance.
The workers also said over 40 Ghanaian graduates were on the company’s Graduate Traineeship Programme, with 50 more being onboarded, while over 50 National Service slots had been set aside for the 2026/2027 service year.
All of these have now been disrupted. According to the workers, completion of the Processing Plant was expected to create over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.
They explained that the company was more than a workplace to many of them, as it provided for their families and their future. They therefore appealed to the President, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission, traditional authorities, organised labour and civil society to explore every lawful way to reopen the mine. They stressed that they were only seeking a chance to work and earn a living. Receiving the petition on behalf of President Mahama, the MCE, Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Ekow Aidoo, assured the workers that it will be forwarded to the appropriate quarters for consideration. He praised the workers for choosing a lawful and peaceful way to seek redress and urged them to remain calm while steps are taken to address their concerns.
