Xtra-Gold Resources Corp., a licensed gold exploration company focused on defining a potentially significant resource on its Kibi Gold Discovery located in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa, of which the governing New Patriotic Party’s Women’s Organiser, Kate Gyamfua, is the General Manager, has accused the anti-galamsey task force of destroying its mining equipment unjustifiably.
The Kibi Gold Belt, which exhibits many similar geological features to Ghana’s main gold belt (the Ashanti Belt with over 150 million oz’s of gold discovered), has been the subject of very limited modern exploration activity targeting lode gold deposits as virtually all past gold mining activity and exploration efforts focused on the extensive alluvial gold occurrences in many river valleys.
Xtra-Gold has a substantial land position in the Kibi Gold Belt.
In a statement, Xtra-Gold Mining Limited, which operates in the Atiwa West District of the Eastern Region, said it pays “big money” in terms of taxes and royalties to the government of Ghana and, thus, was disappointed with the anti-galamsey task force’s action, which, it noted, was a violation of the law.
“These unlawful actions are a clear violation of the rule of law,” the company said.
“Our company pays big money royalties, taxes, stool land fees”.
“We are socially responsible, and employ hundreds of local workers”, it noted.
“At the same time that we are paying all these huge taxes, the military is burning millions of dollars of our mining equipment,” the company bemoaned.
On Sunday, 16 May 2021, the anti-galamsey taskforce launched an onslaught at mining sites at Larbikrom, Dompem and Pamen, all in the Atiwa District of the Eastern Region to rid the area of illegal miners.
