GOLDEN STAR TO REACTIVATE PRESTEA MINE (BACK PAGE, MAY 25, 2010)

GOLDEN Star (Bogoso/Prestea Mines) Limited is to reactivate its underground mine at Prestea in the Prestea/Huni Valley District of the Western Region within the next 15 months to generate employment.
The company has already recruited 30 people to be trained at the AngloGold Ashanti Training School in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region to work in the underground mine.
It has invested US$40.8 million on exploration, care and maintenance of the underground mine since 2002, as well as dewatering the mine.
The General Manager of Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea Mines), Mr Nigel Tamlyn, announced this at the company’s engagement with the media in the Western Region at the weekend.
He said illegal mining activities had led to several openings in the underground mine, with water entering it, while blasting by the illegal gold mining operators nearly caused the collapse of the Bondaye Shaft.
Mr Tamlyn said since 1999, US$493 million had been invested in the Bogoso operations.
He said the company acquired the Bogoso Mine when it was insolvent in 1999 and the Prestea surface mining rights which extended the mine life of the Bogoso operations in 2001.
He said in 2003, it entered into a joint venture with Prestea Gold Resources when it was insolvent, extending the life of the underground mine.
He said after investing US$ 275 million in 2007, Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea Mines) completed the construction of its sulphide processing plant, extending the mine life again.
The Operations Manager of Golden Star Oil Palm Plantations Limited, Mr Isaac Quarm, explained that it was established in April 2006 as a subsidiary of Golden Star Resources Limited in pursuance of the mother company’s corporate social responsibility.
That, he said, was to promote the development of oil palm plantations in the mining communities using the small-holder concept, in partnership with the traditional authorities, the affected farmers and the plantations industry.
A total of 132 farmers, Mr Quarm said, had been allocated four-hectare plots each, adding that the traditional rulers had promised 8,774 hectares of land for the development of oil palm plantations, out of which 6,698 hectares had been offered.