GHANA CHAMBER OF MINES ELECTS DAN OWIREDU AS PRESIDENT

Mr. Dan Owiredu, Vice President (Operations) Africa for Golden Star Resources Limited, has been elected as the new President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines in succession to Mr. Jurgen Eijgendaal, the Managing Director for Ghana Manganese Company, at the end of the 82nd Annual General Meeting of the Chamber in Accra last Week.

Mr. Jeff Huspeni Regional Vice President for Newmont’s African Operations and Mr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for AngloGold Ashanti, were also elected First and Second Vice Presidents respectively.

Mr. Owiredu was until the election the 1st Vice President of the Chamber. He is expected to serve for the next two years as President, after which he will be eligible for re-election for a final two-year term as stipulated in the Constitution of the Chamber.

Mr. Owiredu is taking office at a time when the industry is facing a wide-range of challenges.

Fortunately, he brings to the office considerable knowledge and practical experience of the mining industry in Ghana, Guinea and Mali in particular and on the continent as a whole.

After graduating in Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), he joined the erstwhile Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd. (AGC) and later successfully pursued an MBA programme at the Strathclyde University in Scotland. At the AGC, he was a key-member of the management team which implemented the Ashanti Mines Expansion Programme (AMEP), and thus prepared Obuasi to serve as the flagship of the African multinational which Ashanti became in the 1990’s.

Mr. Owiredu later led another AGC technical team that conducted the feasibility, planning, construction and the commissioning of the Bibiani Mine, after which he was appropriately appointed the first Managing Director.

As the Managing Director of Bibiani he introduced a comprehensive community development programme through which the neighbouring communities were provided with viable options in alternative livelihood.

He also actively promoted the development of Ghanaian skills as well as environmental control initiatives. In addition to these programmes, Mr. Owiredu led the mine to win the AGC Group Chief Executive’s Safety award for two consecutive years - namely 1999 and 2000.

He also managed the Siguiri Mine in Guinea and later the legendary Obuasi Mine. He also frequently travelled to the two other mines which were then in the Ashanti Group - Freda Rebecca in Zimbabwe and Geita in Tanzania - thus acquiring wide-ranging experience of mining in Africa.

Following the AngloGold Ashanti merger in 2004, he was appointed the Chief Operating Officer of AngloGold Ashanti for Ghana and subsequently the Deputy Chief Operating Officer/Africa with responsibilities for ensuring an effective and efficient energy and logistics policy.

He held this position until 2006, when he was head-hunted by Golden Star Resources as Vice President for Africa Operations.