Letter To The Head Of The Minerals Commission, Ghana

The Executive Director,

The Minerals Commission,
                                                          28/10/2016
Accra.

Dear Sir

Re: Infractions of the Mining Act by Hagnella Mining Company Limited & Its Assigns

On the 8th of September, 2016, we wrote formally to bring to your attention, egregious infractions of the Mining Act, by Hagnella Mining Company Limited, and its assigns.

Sir, on the nonsensical  basis that he has acquired rights to mine gold on part of our 14 square mile freehold upland evergreen rainforest property, in the Akyem Juaso section, of the Atewa Range, from my thoroughly dishonest  second cousin, Kwame Thompson, and our equally dishonest former overseer, John Awuku "Red," the CEO of Hagnella Mining Company Limited, and its assigns, are still destroying our land, as we speak.

The latest outrage is the destruction of our organic cocoa plantation a few days ago. That is simply intolerable in a democracy in which the rule of law is said to prevail - and in which the protection of private property from expropriation is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Sir,  as you are aware, under the laws of Ghana,  legally,  Kwame Thompson and "Red" cannot possibly grant a concession to any gold mining company, in this country. And neither can any other private landowner, do so, legally, for that matter.

What is happening on the ground, so to speak, Sir, is that Hagnella Mining Company Limited  is using documentation it used to obtain a mining permit from the Minerals Commission, and other regulatory bodies, covering the block allocated to it in a small-scale gold mining concession - which  happens to be quite some distance  away from our heavily-wooded forestland - to cloak its illegal operations on our freehold property.

After the many non-productive site visits, by sundry officials, supposedly to investigate and submit reports on what is going on in our land, it is now clear to us, that there is  only one way to prove the fact that Kwame Thompson, "Red," Hagnella Mining Company Limited, and its assigns,  are indeed actually engaged in illegal gold mining, on our freehold forest property.

Sir, you must send surveyors from  the cartographic section of the Minerals Commission, to go to the site as soon as practicable,  to enable them record and fix the  GPS  coordinates of the area.

The GPS coordinates of that part of our 14 square mile freehold forestland now being destroyed, ought to then be superimposed on the Minerals Commission's  cadestral map, showing the small-scale gold concession where Hagnella Mining Company Limited indeed does have a mining block - along with other mining companies in that particular industry category.

It is then, and only then, Sir, that the very serious crimes that Kwame Thompson, "Red,"  Hagnella Mining Company Limited, and its assigns, have been committing, in their unlawful occupation of our land to mine gold illegally, in, will come to light, and be finally confirmed to the authorities.

Ditto their causing criminal damage in removing the vegetation and tree-cover in an area of our upland evergreen forestland, where we had planned to build the world's longest forest canopy walkway (1000 metres long with 19 bridges).

The idea  behind that project, is to secure the future of the local economy, by using community-based carbon sequestration, and community-based ecotourism, as conservation tools, to offer corporate entities in Ghana, and from elswhere, opportunities to neutralise some, or all, of their carbon footprint - and obtain regular carbon credit cash payments from them for so doing.

Sir, if you google: "Akyem Juaso Nature-Resource Reserve Facebook page" to view its gallery of  photographs, you will be mortified and appalled that an area of such outstanding natural beauty - which incidentally is also part of a designated Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA), which performs vital ecosystem services - is being destroyed by wealthy and ruthless criminals with such impunity.

Finally, Sir, to sum up: As requested above, we would be grateful  if you could  send surveyors from your organisation as soon as practicable, to take the coordinates  of the area currently being destroyed by the said Kwame Thompson, "Red," Hagnella Mining Company, and its assigns.

We are confident that it will prove beyond doubt that Kwame Thompson, "Red," Hagnella Mining Company Limited, and  and its assigns, are indeed in breach of the Minerals Commissions' small-scale gold mining regulations, and have definitely infringed upon a number of the clauses under the Mining Act (2000), on top of that.

They must all be prosecuted, and jailed, to serve as a deterrent to other greedy and selfish criminals - who don't care one jot about the effect of their actions on their fellow humans and on Mother Nature - from ever contemplating doing so too, in what is a privately-owned freehold upland evergreen rainforest property, belonging to the estate of the late P. E. Thompson of blessed memory.

Sir, it is vital that the Minerals Commission makes an example of the CEO of Hagnella Mining Company Limited, by permanently prohibiting him from mining gold, anywhere in Ghana. Such a drastic  measure will bring some sanity into the small-scale gold mining sector - once news of it spreads in the industry.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Kofi Thompson.

Tel: 027 745 3109.