Newmont Ahafo mine creates 41,000 jobs

Newmont Ghana Gold Limited has created about 41,000 jobs from its Ahafo Mine operations in Ghana, a study on the Socio-Economic Impact of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited conducted by the International Consultant Agency Steward Redqueen has said.

Highlights of the report indicated that about 1,900 people are directly employed, and an extra 39,000 indirect jobs were created in support through the supply chain of its mining operations in the Brong Ahafo region. 

This was after the company in 2011 spent almost half of its total expenditure of US$870million in the country.  Newmont, according to the report, has also contributed almost 3 percent of the country’s fiscal revenues in the form of taxes to government.

Partner for Steward Redqueen, Rene Kim, indicated more economic benefits could accrue if local government authorities lead the way in building the capacity of local artisans and suppliers in mining communities.

“There is still a lot of procurement that happens in Ghana, about US$182million. But quite a sizeable quantity of procurement also happens outside the country, obviously because Ghana does not have big industries for those procurements which only a few countries around the world can produce.

“But there are other things that we think Ghana can produce to boost local procurement, and that’s what we have been speaking to district assemblies and the regional governments about.  Of course, they need to be delivered on time in a reliable way -- and that requires capacity building to get there,” he added.

According to him, local assemblies also need to collaborate more with mining firms to achieve this objective.

“When the mine started, Newmont started what it called the Ahafo Linkages Programme which sought to upscale the local people into viable businessmen. And this needs to be continued to ensure that even when the mine shuts down, the businesses can thrive -- like food-processing -- because they do not depend on only mining activities,” he said.

The study by Steward Redqueen also revealed, among other things, that the Ahafo Mine’s presence has led to an influx of people into the Brong Ahafo Region, while the economic situation of households in the mining area has also improved since Newmont started operations.