Anglogold Ashanti has celebrated its first gold production at the Obuasi Mine, a year after the reactivation of operations.
The once viable Obuasi firm was nearly shut down as a result of number of factors including continues fall of the global price of cocoa.
Over a thousand of people lost their jobs, both direct and indirect with indigenes of Obuasi being the worst affected.
The celebration of the gold pour was to herald a new production era.
“The shutdown of the mine brought a serious hardship to the community,” President Nana Akufo-Addo asserts.
Anglogold bounces back
In January 2019, the Obuasi mine restored operations with the support of government. The president Nana Akufo-Addo, the Asantehene took part of the historical opening of Anglogold Ashanti.
2016 campaign promise
Nana Akufo-Addo during his tour of Obuasi in the 2016 electioneering assured the people his government will ensure the mine resume operations.
“In fulfilment of the 2016 campaign promise to the people of Obuasi, my assumption of office saw series of discussions which has brought the mine back to life,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
Global CEO of Anglogold, Kelvin Dushnisky said “the objective is to move into 2020 to hit 4000 tonnes a day production mark.”
Local content
Managing director of Anglogold Ashanti, Eric Asubonteng told 3news.com “when we went out to redevelop the mind we made a conscious decision through our discussion with local content. Once we hit the ground running we introduce a program which has the participation of Ghanaian businesses. We have a result to show.”
By William Evans-Nkum|3news.com|Ghana