Nyinahin bauxite lease revoked, Exton Cubic has no licence to operate — Amewu
The controversy surrounding the prospecting for bauxite by Exton Cubic Limited in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve in Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region has taken a new twist, with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources revoking the lease given to the company.
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In a dramatic twist of events, the sector Minister, Mr John Peter Amewu, explained yesterday that the company failed to meet the legal requirements and, therefore, its lease was not valid.
“The failure to obtain environmental and operational permits, as well as the various statutory infractions, leading to the purported grant of the three mining leases to the company renders the purported leases invalid and of no effect.
“In the circumstance and in accordance with Section 87 of Act 703, the three mining leases are hereby revoked,” Mr Amewu said at a press conference in Accra.
Section 87 of Act 703 gives the minister power to revoke a licence when the minister is satisfied that the licensee has contravened or failed to comply with a term or condition of the licence or a requirement applicable to the licensee, the licensee is convicted of any offence relating to the smuggling or illegal sale or dealing in minerals, or the minister is satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so.
U-turn
The decision to revoke the licence runs contrary to the minister’s position last month that the company had acquired the necessary permit to mine bauxite in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve.
On August 20, this year, vehicles belonging to the company’s sub-contractor, Engineers and Planners (E&P), were impounded in Nyinahin on the orders of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, who said he had no knowledge of the mining lease granted the company.
Some angry residents of Nyinahin also prevented E&P – affiliated to Exton Cubic – from depositing mining equipment on the Nyinahin bauxite concession in the forest reserve.
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Personal enquiry
Giving details, Mr Amewu said following the controversy generated by the issue, he proceeded to conduct an enquiry into what he described as “the purported grant of a mining licence” to the company.
He said pursuant to the application Exton Cubic made in April 2015, the company was, on December 24, 2015, issued with a prospecting licence under Section 34 of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) for two years covering Kyekyewere (56.64 kilometre square), Mpasaso (22.46 kilometre square) and Kyirayaso (32.68 kilometre square).
No Gazette publication
He said there was no publication of notice of the pendency for the prospecting licence in the Gazette, contrary to the provisions of Section 13 (2) and (3) of the act and Regulation 177 of the Minerals and Mining Regulation, 2012.
According to Mr Amewu, in the absence of a publication notice of the pendency of the application by the company in the Gazette, there could not have been the delivery of a copy of the notice of Gazette publication to the relevant district assembly and publication in a newspaper circulating in the area concerned.
Additionally, he said, without the said process, there could be no other steps, including publication on the notice board of the relevant office of the Minerals Commission, publication at the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands and publication at the Lands Commission office in the areas as required by the combined effect of Section 13(3) of Act 703 and Regulation 177.
He said in spite of the absence of a Gazette publication, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was purported to have issued the company a permit on June 7, 2016 to carry out prospecting activities on the land.
Requirements not met
The company was required, in accordance with Environmental Assessment Regulations, 1999 (L.I. 1652), to submit an Environmental Assessment form (EA2), Environmental Impact Assessment, Scoping Report, Environmental Impact Statement, an annual Environmental Report to the EPA and a liability estimates of environmental degradation.
Additionally, it was required to have an Exploration Operating Permit for 2017, as well as present an Exploration Operating Plan to the Minerals Commission to meet the demands of the Minerals and Mining (Health, Safety and Technical) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2182).
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister said none of those requirements was met.
Timeline of events
Running the media through the timelines concerning the licence, he said on October 29, 2016, the company made three applications for mining leases in respect of the Kyekyewere, Mpasaso and Kyirayaso concessions.
He said evaluation comments by the Minerals Commission on the feasibility report presented by the company were made on November 9, 2016, and then on November 10, 2016 an offer was purportedly made by the Minerals Commission to the company in respect of the three mining leases.
According to the minister, on December 29, 2016 the then Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osah Mills, forwarded copies of three purported mining leases to the company for signing.
He said although there was no Gazette notification, the Minerals Commission, by three separate letters, all dated November 10, 2016, and contrary to Section 13(1) of Act 703, “purported to have offered to the company three mining leases, subject to the payment of specified charges”.
He said the purported offer letter from the commission, dated November 10, 2016, was written even before the commission forwarded its recommendations to the minister on December 28, 2016.
“The minister, upon receipt of the letter on December 28, 2016, proceeded to sign the purported mining leases on December 29, 2016.
“The statutory requirements in Section 13 of Act 703 and Regulation 177 of L.I. 2176 for publication in the Gazette of a pending application for mining lease and subsequent notification to the chief or allodial owner, as well as publication of the notice of the Gazette at the offices of the district assembly were not complied with before the grant of the mining leases to the company,” he said.
Mr Amewu was of the view that the processes leading up to the granting of the mining lease in favour of Exton Cubic showed non-compliance with the legal requirements for the grant of any valid mining lease.
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Response
Unfair treatment
Reacting to the revocation of the company’s mining licences in an interview with an Accra-based radio station, the Communications Director of Exton Cubic Group Limited, Mr Samuel Gyamfi, said at about 10 a.m. yesterday, the company received a letter from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources that the three mining licenses of the firm had been revoked, reports Nana Konadu Agyeman.
He said shockingly two hours later the company received another letter from the ministry signed by Mr Amewu, that what was purported to be done in the earlier letter had been changed.
“Today, we have received two letters that are totally contradictory as they raised different issues,” he stated, describing the government actions towards the company as very disappointing.
Mr Gyamfi, who stopped short to give details of the two letters from the ministry, said it was very unfortunate that a local Ghanaian company engaged in legitimate business with the objective of creating over 20,000 jobs for teeming unemployed youth would be subjected to such unfair treatment by the government.
Seeking redress
He indicated that the lawyers of the Exton Cubic Group were currently studying the two letters from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and “in the coming days we will take the necessary legal steps to seek redress.”
Mr Gyamfi assured partners of the company, both local and international, sympathisers and supporters to remain calm since there was no cause for alarm.
“We have gone through the letters and we find that there is no legal justification for what the government did,” he stated.
Chronology of events
August 22, 2017
The Ashanti Regional Minister asked the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Mr Amewu, to produce documents indicating that he had approved the mining of bauxite in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve.
The regional minister said until he saw those documents, he was not going to release the seized equipment.
August 22, 2017
Exton Cubic Group Limited described as false claims that it was scheming with E&P to engage in illegal mining at the Nyinahin bauxite concession.
It insisted that the Nyinahin bauxite concession was legally acquired on August 14, 2013.
August 23, 2017
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it had not granted permission to Exton Cubic to undertake bauxite mining activities at Nyinahin.
According to the EPA, any attempts, therefore, by the company to enter the area to mine bauxite were illegal.
August 23, 2017
The youth of Nyinahin gave the government a 24-hour ultimatum to remove all machines belonging to Exton Cubic from the area.
In a petition to the President, the youth wanted him to order all machinery belonging to Exton Cubic to be impounded until a proper agreement was reached by all stakeholders.
August 23, 2017
Mr Amewu and Mr Osei-Mensah were in talks to resolve the stand-off over the mining of bauxite in Nyinahin.
The two had taken entrenched positions on the matter, which had Engineers and Planners (E&P), the company belonging to Mr Ibrahim Mahama, a brother of former President John Dramani Mahama, at the centre.
August 24, 2017
Exton Cubic stated that its operations in the area were within the confines of the law.
The company, therefore, described the seizure of its vehicles and equipment in Nyinahin as an illegality.
August 29, 2017
Traditional leaders of Nyinahin appealed to the Akufo-Addo government to allow Exton Cubic to proceed with its operations in the Nyinahin bauxite concession in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve.
The Spokesperson of the chiefs, Nana Kusi Amankwa Maafo II, who is also the Nkawiehene, said all the three chiefs in the bauxite concession area were fully aware of the legal processes that commenced four years ago.
