The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has debunked rumours suggesting that Atlantic Lithium, the company undertaking Ghana’s first ever lithium project, has started operating under the guise of prospecting.
Mr Ransford Sakyi, the Deputy Executive Director of Operations, EPA, said the Agency had toured all proposed sites for the project and found no sign of operation.
Atlantic Lithium and its subsidiary company, Barari DV Ghana Limited, only undertook exploration and feasibility studies before securing the mining lease from government some months ago, he explained.
‘There is no way the company could start operations,’ he said, adding that it was yet to secure environmental permit from the EPA and operating permit from the Minerals Commission, as well as undertake pre-mining projects.
‘We at the EPA can say that they have not started any construction and when the permit is given and they get the necessary documentation, it will take them about to two years to construct before they start digging the lith
ium and process it into concentrate,’ Mr Sakyi said.
Speaking at a public forum on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Ewoyaa Lithium Mining and Processing Project at Krofu, a rural community in the Mfantseman Municipality, he acknowledged the disturbance to the environment by mining projects but assured that measures were underway to mitigate the negative impacts of the project.
The forum was held in accordance with Regulations 17 (la) and (lc) of the Environmental Assessment Regulations 1999 (LI 1652) and Ghana’s Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures.
This is the second time the Agency and the mining company are meeting the affected residents after the first meeting on February 13, 2024, at Awoyaa to brief them on the project.
It was heavily attended by chiefs and people from 12 affected communities and three paramount chiefs from the Mfantseman Municipality and Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District.
The mining project is expected to comprise construction and operation of mine pits,
waste rock dumps, processing plant, tailing storage facility, workshops and ancillary facilities.
With passion and a sense of anger and frustration, the people expressed concerns on the negative impact of mining on catchment communities and made demands with emphasis on employment, crop and land compensations, air and water pollution, and resettlement among others.
Mr Sakyi observed that a baseline data, including air and water quality in the area, had been gathered to monitor the impact of the mining activities, adding that mitigation measures against such impacts had been documented in the environmental impact statement.
‘For example, before they commence operation, we will do a health impact assessment and in any event that as the project goes on, there are foreign health issues that may be attributed to the project, then there will be the need to resolve and mitigate that,’ he said.
The company had, by law, been directed to form compensation and resettlement negotiation committees made up of chiefs of
the catchment areas and staff of the company.
He urged the communities to report any issue of noncompliance to the EPA to take appropriate actions against the company.
‘In the unlikely event that there are some shortcomings, we will also intervene so that overall, this project will come off successfully and the benefit will be accrued to the Central Region, Mother Ghana and to the people within this project of influence,’ he assured.
Mr Keith Muller, the Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Lithium, promised the community members of 800 new direct jobs in the construction phase of the project and 256 in the operational phase.
He expressed the company’s commitment to upholding the highest possible standards in its operations and act in the best interest of the people in the catchment communities.
Source: Ghana News Agency