Mining firm, Golden Star Resources, has announced it is investing $90 million into its operations in Ghana.
The investment is to revamp activities at its Wassa and Prestea mines in the Western region. The company had been struggling over the past couple of years as the price of gold tumbled on the world market.
It was also in the news for asking the Volta River Authority to cancel a 20-million-dollar electricity debt.
The company plans to start the commercial production on the mines by mid-2017.
Director of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations at Golden Star Resources Limited, Katherine Sutton said, the decision to invest this much in the country is a good one in spite of some investors shying away from Ghana’s mining sector.
Sutton said the company plans to carry out “exciting underground projects into production during 2017”.
The Wassa mine which has already produced its first underground ore, “will start commercial production in 2017 and Prestea underground will commence in mid-2017”.
Sutton told Starr FM’s Emmanuel Ohene Gyan during a visit to the Wassa and Prestea mines, Golden Star is undergoing transformation to become “a low cost, high grade producer”. According to her, the decision to pump this much money into its operations here is a sign that the company “believes Ghana is a place we can do business successfully”.
She said this is in spite of the fact that some investors are shying away from Ghana’s mining sector. She explained: “Some investors say it’s (Ghana) a high risk destination due to negative reports put out by other companies of their experience in Ghana”.
Sutton, however, said Golden Star, which has been operating in Ghana for the past 15 years, “has people on the ground here telling us that it’s a good investment environment… We wouldn’t be investing 90 million dollars here if we thought it wasn’t going to be a good investment.”
By Emmanuel Ohene Gyan
