Day: June 3, 2023

Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited, a subsidiary of Shandong Gold, a global Chinese mining firm, has reiterated the Company’s commitment to engaging in responsible ecological mining.

This is in line with its business purpose – ‘to support Employees, returns to Shareholders, benefit the Society and contribute to the Country’.

The assurance was given when Management members of the Company briefed the Ghana News Agency during a tour of the Namdini Gold Project site in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.

The GNA team was welcomed to the site tour by Mr Steve Ofori-Asamoah, Project Manager, Mr Daniel Agyen-Tweneboah, Human Resource and Media Manager, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Adusei, CSR and Security Manager, and Hongjiao Shao, Compliance Manager, and other management team members.

The visit afforded the GNA first-hand information on the milestones achieved in the construction phase of the Namdini Gold Project and any consequential impacts on the surrounding communities.

Cardinal Namdini Mining Ltd, through Shandong Gold, acquired a mining lease/ concession to undertake open-cast (surface) mining for 15 years in that District.

The greenfield project is expected to generate 150 million tonnes of ore for five million ounces of gold within the 15 years when production begins.

Mr Steve Ofori-Asamoah, the Project Manager, said a key feature of the project was local content.

He said more than 1,200 jobs would be created during the ongoing construction phase, with 90 per cent being Ghanaians.

Currently, the Company is investing about US$520 million to construct its infrastructure base, including operational offices and staff accommodation, processing plants, and tailings storage facilities, to allow for full mining operations to begin at the end of 2024.

Mr Ofori-Asamoah said the huge investment was towards building the biggest single mine in the northern sector and one of the biggest in Ghana.

Mrs Beatrice Asamani Savage, Head of Editorial of GNA, who led her side, commended the management of the Company for recognising the significant role of the media in its operations.

She said Ghana and China had a longstanding relationship dating back to the 1960s.

Ignorance and misinformation, due to lack of communication, she noted, were issues that must be addressed to ensure the Company’s successful operations.

‘A media partnership will only be successful if there is information flow, openness and transparency, and if things are done right for a win-win situation for all stakeholders,’ Mrs Savage said.

‘We hope that you will be open to us, for we will support you when things are done to benefit our people because they are our primary responsibility, ‘ she added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, defended Saturday (03) the joint efforts for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan.

Delivering his speech, at opening of the Extraordinary Summit of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL), Moussa Faki called for the need to find lasting solutions to African crises through dialogue and strong commitments.

At the time, he described the security situation in the region as catastrophic and with major human consequences.

Moussa Mahamat called for the coordination of efforts to correspond to the summit’s motto “For a stable Great Lakes region, towards sustainable development”.

He noted that, despite some progress, there are challenges in terms of security that hinder development, such as the resurgence of the emergence of armed groups like the M23 and the illicit exploitation of natural resources.

He said that the situation calls for the need to revive the deployment of the African force to assist in the rapid implementation of the Rwanda and Nairobi processes.

The continental leader appealed to the UN and other partners to support the pacification efforts underway in the DRC and Sudan in the technical and logistical fields.

However, he announced that the African Union Commission is preparing to hold a Summit with the participation of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the Community of East African States (EAC) to coordinate efforts and share responsibilities, taking into account the potential of each State.

To AUC, it is crucial to act effectively and increase trust among the leaders of organisations.

On the other hand, he spoke of the coup d’état in Sudan, at a time when the country was getting ready for holding its elections, which led to the deterioration of the internal situation, with consequences for other countries.

He added that in addition to the exodus to other countries, the dead are yet to be buried and the wounded without assistance, which could lead to yet another chaos on the continent.

The AU is making efforts to reach a ceasefire, while urging the contenders to avoid actions that would further damage the country and create long-term disturbances.

He argued that the AU engaged with specialised agencies to help the affected populations.

Moussa Faki believes in a negotiated solution to the Sudanese conflict, to save the country from civil war and the region from widespread chaos.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

Angolan Head of State João Lourenço defended Saturday the urgency of greater coordination among all the actors in the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in view of the defined peace objectives.

João Lourenço made the appeal at the Extraordinary Summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL) on peace and security in the East of the DRC and in the Republic of Sudan Saturday in Luanda.

The Angolan president also defended the need to hold a Quadripartite Summit in Luanda, with the presence of representatives from Southern Africa Development Conference (SADC), East African Community of States (IAC), International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the Economic Community of Central African States, under the coordination of the African Union (AU).

“I would like count on your support for the implementation of this intention”, he underlined.

As for the situation of the armed conflict on the ground in the East of the DRC, President João Lourenço acknowledged that, in general, the ceasefire has been complied with, with the exception of small incidents normal in processes like this.

However, the Angolan statesman highlighted the need to speed up the process related to the creation of conditions for the cantonment of Congolese citizens who are members of the armed movement “M23”.

João Lourenço, current President of the ICGLR, welcomed the decision that approved the deployment of a regional force as part of the SADC Standby Force, as a regional response to efforts to restore peace and security in the territory of the DRC.

Situation in Sudan

On the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan, since April 15 of the current year, the Angolan President referred to it as being an intricate conflict with dramatic consequences on the humanitarian, economic and regional security levels.

In his speech, João Lourenço noted that in his capacity as Acting President of ICGLR and Champion of the African Union for Peace and Security in Africa, he has sought to monitor the situation very closely.

In this regard, he informed that he held a conversation with Adbel Fattah Al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, with whom he analysed the current situation in that country.

He appealed, at the time, for the belligerent parties to try to find, through the dialogue, a solution to the problem.

He recognised that the situation remains tense, but argued that the fact that a ceasefire is in operation, whose validity should be encouraged, gives some hope that it will be possible to define a negotiating framework that will lead to an effective and lasting peace, -chamber for the transition of power to a civil government that emerges from the will of the people at the ballot box.

At the end of his speech, Angolan Head of State expressed optimism that the conclusions emerging from summit, which ends this Saturday (3), will be useful and likely to help revive the peace processes in the DRC and Sudan.

The event, which includes the participation of some Heads of State or their representatives from the ICGLR, takes place under the motto “For a stable Great Lakes region, towards sustainable development”.

ICGLR was created in 1994, after the political and military conflicts that marked the Great Lakes Region in the early 1990s.

CIRGL brings together Angola, Burundi, the Central African and Democratic Republics of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda , Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)