Five persons lost their lives at Ayanfuri Gyaman in the Upper Denkyira West district of the Central region last Thursday.
The incident, which was as a result of an illegal mining pit caving in on them left 15 others who were at the site injured.
According to an inside information given to Ghanas Online by an indigine on the basis of anonymity, the site, Heap Leach is an old site former Ashanti Gold Company left.
There have been scuffles over the land several times because Ayanfuri indigenes feel the land belongs to them, claiming it was bethroted to them after the departure Ashanti Gold Company in 2001.
However, when another mining company, Perseus Mining came into the scene, the community persistently advocated for ownership of the site.
Meanwhile, the Decommissioning report that was produced on the concession indicated Heap Leach is hazardous due to some chemicals present at the site. But quite unfortunately for the residents, they do not have the requisite remedy to protect themselves from the dangers these chemicals possess.
They have therefore been sneaking to the place to mine despite the sensitisation Perseus Mining Gold Ltd. provided across various platforms; on the radio stations, information centres, video clips and others but yet residents remained adamant.
The source further told Ghanas Online “people have been dying at the place day-in day-out and this is about the fifth time people are dying there.”
“The company [Perseus Mining Gold Ltd] therefore gave a deadline for all those mining at the site to vacate the premises by 1st October 2020, but unfortunately, as they say that, last days are dangerous, it was that very day the pit caved in on the people and claimed five lives”, the source indicated.
Some people however left the place and packed all their machines from the place.
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The source further reveals that none of the five victims is a native of Ayanfuri Gyaman. It says the cosmopolitan nature of the place has made foreigners and people from other parts of the country take over town, mining, and they fell victim to the sad incident.
A military clampdown of the place led to the loss of many lives, being the reason many are not advising authorities to repeat a similar approach according the source.
“The best solution according to inside information would be to keep the military out of the situation because the last time they tried, a lot of people died at the place”, it said.
One interesting thing nonetheless is the spiritual correlation between the deaths occuring at the site and the wealth attached to it. The source says more lives lost means more gold from the enclave.
“Spiritually when people die at the mine, the site breeds a lot of gold. So with this incident, those who will go there the next few days will find more gold and make a lot of money because there is that spiritual correlation between people dying there and the site breeding more gold for money”, said the source.
How it occured
Last Thursday’s incident occurred when victims were prospecting for gold at the site.
About 20 of the miners were busy mining at the site when the incident suddenly occurred and trapped five.
According to the police, two of them died instantly while the rest died at the two separate hospitals they were rushed for medical attention.
The Upper Denkyira East District Police Commander, DSP Edmond Jones Afutu said two died on arrival at Dunkwa government hospital while another passed on at Ayanfuri Pentecost Hospital.
The incident left residents and colleagues miners traumatised.
The bodies were deposited at the Dunkwa Government Hospital for identification by relatives.
DSP Jones Afutu then advised residents to stay away from such sites to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.