Kris Kapoor, Resident Director, Dunkwa Continental Goldfields Limited has appealed to the government to protect the company’s $ 46 million investment in the country.
He said the company’s properties located at Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region were being encroached by the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly without the consent of the management of the company.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday he said, “All assets on the concession of Continental Goldfields are our property no one can trespass on it without our authority.”
Explaining how the company commenced operations in Ghana, he said the management of Dunkwa Continental Goldfields on May 1994 bought the entire concession, including the liability and assets of the Dunkwa Goldfields Limited owned by the State Gold Mining Company which was placed on divestiture, and began mining activities on the concession.
He said under the project agreement, signed between his company and the government of Ghana in 1995, Continental Goldfields have the right to venture into other activities such as agriculture and manufacturing apart from mining.
“By virtue of the same project agreement our company became the lawful owner and operator of the assets and operations of Dunkwa Goldfields Limited.
It was not a lease agreement between the two parties but rather an outright sale of the company’s assets and liabilities,” he said.
Mr. Kapoor said the company mined gold on the concession for only four years and stopped when gold prices plunged in 1999, adding that since the company under the agreement was allowed to venture into other sectors, it began operations in the agro-business sector.
On November 7, 2005, the Ministry of Lands Forestry and Mines was purported to have terminated the project agreement on the grounds that the company had breached the Mining Law 1986 by venturing into agro business.
However, Mr. Kapoor said, “the fact that we are not into mining again does not mean that our assets must be taken over unlawfully”.
He said the continuous encroachment of the company property was affecting its operations, adding that the agreement gives the opportunity to any aggrieved signatory to the agreement to seek international arbitration.
A source at the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly confirmed to Times Business that the assembly had taken over some of the bungalows and the hospital built by the State Gold Mining Company, which had been neglected by the management of Continental Goldfields, for a nursing college and a primary school for the area.
The source argued that the properties seized to be the assets of Continental Goldfields since 2005 when the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines revoked their license and took possession of all properties.
“This company has failed to bring the needed development to Dunkwa.
There is no need to continue to see them as the owners of the company,” it said.
He said the company’s properties located at Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Central Region were being encroached by the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly without the consent of the management of the company.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday he said, “All assets on the concession of Continental Goldfields are our property no one can trespass on it without our authority.”
Explaining how the company commenced operations in Ghana, he said the management of Dunkwa Continental Goldfields on May 1994 bought the entire concession, including the liability and assets of the Dunkwa Goldfields Limited owned by the State Gold Mining Company which was placed on divestiture, and began mining activities on the concession.
He said under the project agreement, signed between his company and the government of Ghana in 1995, Continental Goldfields have the right to venture into other activities such as agriculture and manufacturing apart from mining.
“By virtue of the same project agreement our company became the lawful owner and operator of the assets and operations of Dunkwa Goldfields Limited.
It was not a lease agreement between the two parties but rather an outright sale of the company’s assets and liabilities,” he said.
Mr. Kapoor said the company mined gold on the concession for only four years and stopped when gold prices plunged in 1999, adding that since the company under the agreement was allowed to venture into other sectors, it began operations in the agro-business sector.
On November 7, 2005, the Ministry of Lands Forestry and Mines was purported to have terminated the project agreement on the grounds that the company had breached the Mining Law 1986 by venturing into agro business.
However, Mr. Kapoor said, “the fact that we are not into mining again does not mean that our assets must be taken over unlawfully”.
He said the continuous encroachment of the company property was affecting its operations, adding that the agreement gives the opportunity to any aggrieved signatory to the agreement to seek international arbitration.
A source at the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly confirmed to Times Business that the assembly had taken over some of the bungalows and the hospital built by the State Gold Mining Company, which had been neglected by the management of Continental Goldfields, for a nursing college and a primary school for the area.
The source argued that the properties seized to be the assets of Continental Goldfields since 2005 when the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines revoked their license and took possession of all properties.
“This company has failed to bring the needed development to Dunkwa.
There is no need to continue to see them as the owners of the company,” it said.
