AngloGold Ashanti responds to BBC report

Commentary

The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) Radio 4 program File on Four, broadcast on July 18, reporting on events at the Obuasi gold mine in Ghana (among other things) was prefaced with the statement: “Some multinational companies, including one that’s part British-owned, are prepared to resort to extreme violence to protect their interests.”

We dispute that broad conclusion, which, insofar as it refers to AngloGold Ashanti, was drawn from several accounts of alleged corporate human rights and environmental violations in Ghana, including the case of Awudu Mohammed. Mohammed was injured while being chased by police and company security personnel from AngloGold Ashanti property in June 2005. He had allegedly been stealing property from the Obuasi mine site and was discovered and pursued.

Mohammed and a doctor who treated him allege he was shot.

The official report of the Surgery Directorate at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, where he was treated, offers no conclusion regarding the cause of Mohammed’s wounds.

An independent ballistics study commissioned by AngloGold Ashanti found that his injuries could not have been caused by small arms fire as alleged, and that police and mine security accounts that he was injured when he fell on the spike of a security gate are credible. Neither the official surgeons’ nor the ballistic report were referred to in the File on Four program, though we supplied the BBC with copies of both.

AngloGold Ashanti is committed to ensuring that where its interests need to be secured, this is done in a manner consistent with international norms on human rights, including the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (a voluntary dialogue between representatives of governments in the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands and Norway, companies in the extractive and energy sectors, and non-governmental organizations), to which we are in the process of becoming a signatory.

Small-scale, informal mining is a major issue for large-scale mining in many parts of the developing world. In Ghana, it is a substantial part of the informal sector and provides livelihoods for many tens of thousands of people. However, it often involves dangerous mining and chemical treatment methods. It also often involves intruding on the mining rights of the formal mining sector and the theft of gold-bearing material and other assets. There have been a number of occasions where mine staff have been severely injured in encounters with informal miners.

It is clear to us that innovative methods need to be devised for dealing with the challenges associated with small-scale and artisanal mining. AngloGold Ashanti has initiated and continues to put into effect a wide range of alternative livelihood programs and projects to deal with local unemployment and poverty in communities around our operations. This is done in consultation with local communities. These alternative livelihood programs may include small-scale mining projects, but this would need to occur in a regulated manner, preferably by consent between ourselves, the small-scale miners and the authorities, so as to ensure safe and lawful economic activity and a relationship of peaceful coexistence. Any sustainable solution will also require the use of measures to protect company assets.

AngloGold Ashanti is committed to ensuring that any such measures are consistent with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

— The preceding is an edited version of a statement published by London-based AngloGold Ashanti.