The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has instructed Future Global Resources (FGR), the managers of Bogoso and Prestea Mines, to initiate payment of overdue salaries to workers within fourteen (14) days. Additionally, FGR is required to settle all outstanding salaries by May 30, 2024.
Over three hundred workers from the Bogoso Mine have gathered at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, demanding the termination of FGR’s mining lease. They argue that FGR lacks the financial capacity to manage the mines, resulting in all workers being laid off for three years now.
Abdul Moomin Gbana, the General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union of TUC, emphasized at a news conference in Accra that “Future Global Resources does not have the financial resources to manage the mines, so the Minister must terminate their contract.”
Mining operations at the Bogoso Mine ceased in December 2023 due to financial difficulties, as stated by the Lands Ministry. However, FGR has submitted a restructuring proposal to raise up to $150 million to settle its debts and revive the mine.
The government, after consultations, believes that allowing FGR to raise the proposed capital and reinvest it in the mine is the most effective way to revive operations swiftly.
FGR has been directed to provide evidence, satisfactory to the Lands Minister and Minerals Commission, of its financial capability to settle debts and operate the mine within one hundred and twenty (120) days.