Mr. Erasto Njavike, member of the international jury of the ongoing Ghacem’s quarry life award competition, is on a working visit in the country.

Mr Njavike is also the Programme Manager for the Roots and Shoots programme at the Jane Goodall Institute in Tanzania,

The visit among other things is aimed at accessing the rehabilitation and reclamation project of Ghacem as mandated by the minerals and mines law of 2006 ACT 703, and also to visit the project sites of Ghana’s Top 5 finalists of the ongoing 2nd edition of the quarry life award contest being organized by Heidelbergcement Group and have an interaction session with them.

The Quarry Life Award Campaign (QLA) is a global competition organized by HeidelbergCement (HC) Group to source ideas towards the effective regeneration and management of biodiversity in all its mining sites across the globe.

Heidelberg Cement operates more than 100 cement grinding plants and over 1,000 quarries in more than 40 countries. Ghana, represented in this case by GHACEM, is one out of 18 countries participating in the QLA competition.

Top-notch National Executives of the QLA Project accompanied Mr. Erasto Njavike to visit the project sites of Ghana’s 5 finalists. They included Mr. Kwabena Labi Addo, the QLA National Coordinator, Mr. Solomon Ayiah, the Communications Coordinator and Dr. Erasmus Owusu a National Jury member, who is also a conservation biologist

During the trip, the team visited the Yongwa quarry site and was hosted by Mr. Abdul Rashid, Quarry manager of A.J Fanj sub contractors of Ghacem and Mr. Emmanuel Amoako, Quarry Engineer at Yongwa after which they visited the project sites of Reuben Danso Mintah, Millicent Amekugbe and Dr. Jonathan Hogarh . The team finally visited one of Ghacem’s Quarry at Beposo located at the Shama District of the Western Region and took a tour round the project sites of Kwasi Boadu Ntiamoah and Bridget Akpably

Addressing media men present during the tour, Mr. Erasto Njavike noted that Ghacem’s approach to quarry rehabilitation was impressive and needs to be emulated by other mining companies for the proper maintenance of biodiversity

He observed that the participants in this year’s QLA edition were exhibiting new skills and unique ideas on land reclamation “and Ghana is no exception”

He urged the participants to link the quarry rehabilitation activities and the communities around the quarry rehabilitation in order to create a win-win situation to be mutually beneficial for both the company and the communities

Mr. Njavike wished the participants best of luck and expressed the resolve by the International jury members to ensure a free and fair platform for all participatory countries.

Later in an interview, the QLA National Coordinator, Mr. Kwabena Labi Addo emphasized the importance of Mr. Njavike’s visit stressing that participants will get the opportunity of being coached on the International criteria in winning the ultimate award

He on behalf of the National Executives commended Mr. Njavike for the visit describing it as timely and a recipe to boost the already enthusiasm in the 2nd edition of the QLA competition

Project titles

This year’s 5 finalists have the following as the title of the projects: Reuben Danso Mintah (Protecting Communities from Quarry Dust using pennisetumpurpureum as a dust barrier to promote Biodiversity in a Mining Site); Kwasi Boadu Ntiamoah (The use of vermicompost from organic food waste as a potential treat for topsoil in restoring Biodiversity at quarry site reclamation); Bridget Akpably (Regreening of degraded landscapes, the role of alchonea cordifolia as a tool for sustainable ecological and socio-economic development); Dr. Jonathan Hogarh (Composting for quarry site rehabilitation) and Millicent Amekugbe (Implications of Edge Effects as a tool in assisting ecological succession).