About 30 people involved in galamsey were trapped in a pit on Saturday, October 15, 2022, in Obuasi, in the Ashanti Region.

According to The Ghanaian Times Newspaper , the incident at the pit belongs to AngloGold Ashanti Company (AGA) in Anwiam , a suburb of Obuasi. 

The news of the incident came in yesterday as relatives and close ones of the affected had noticed the absence of the victims.

The Assembly Member for the Ahansonyewodea Electoral Area, Vincent Donkor, confirmed the news and said that his attention was drawn to the incident by some relatives of the victims . He added that follow-up has been made to the security department of AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) and the police station.

He continued by saying that when AGA wants to close the pit in certain circumstances, announcements are issued. But in this instance, no notification was made to provide information.

In the meantime, Nana Amoako Gyanpah, the Chief of Okyekrom, reaffirmed the circumstance in an interview with JoyNews and accused AGA of long-term mismanagement of the pit.

“The company had neglected the pit about 12 years ago. I wrote a petition to AngloGold in 2020 to remind them that I and my community do not understand the reason why they have neglected it because there is a pit under my area, so they have to come and reclaim the land (because) we needed the land for our local farming activities.” he said.

He stressed how he petitioned the mining company but to no avail.

“Currently in 2022 I wrote another one still to no avail then I have to call the press and explain certain things within our own community to them,” he added.

Emmanuel Baidoo, Senior Sustainability Manager at AGA, clarified that all farmers around the pit had received compensation.

He said “The said pit is about 2.5 km from the said community, so it is not even close to the community, so we had compensated all farms in that area in relation to the mining activity there and the lease that we have”.