Newmont Ghana says the company has put in measures to be the leader and an example to responsible mining in Ghana. To this effect the company has initiated various social activities and invested several million dollars in setting up livelihood and communal ventures for thousands of the people in the Ahafo area. The company began its Ahafo mining barely four years ago but has so far raised over $4.3 million through the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation. The company sets aside a dollar for each ounce of gold it mines for the foundation. The Ghana Chamber of Mines has organized a tour of the Newmont Ahafo Mine for some journalists. The Ahafo mine has 4,000 employees, 96 percent of them are Ghanaians. Thirty-four percent of these are locals from the Ahafo area. The tour has been timely as Newmont was in recently in the news over a cyanide spillage at the Ahafo plant- a 500 million dollars plant. The company has since offered to pay government compensation amounting to several million dollars, and to take steps to clean the mess. At the plant an official told journalists steps taken to clean the spill and to curb contaminating nearby water bodies. But a challenge that came up relates to the country’s capacity to independently check instances like that and to confirm the extent of the cleanup process. This calls for equipping the Environmental Protection Agency to actively monitor the activities of mining companies. With Ghana’s oil find the EPA will have to sit up to curb such challenges as gas flaring, environmental pollution and other activities that threaten the environment and endanger future lives. But the story of Newmont Ahafo is worth telling. Putting a side a dollar per every ounce of gold mine and one per cent of annual revenue to the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation is worth an effort. To some Civil Society Organisations this may still be small. Indeed, but if other mining companies, some operating for years, can contribute that much to the communities in which they operate then they will help carve a better image for mining companies in Ghana. Credit: Benjamin Tetteh, Joy Fm correspondent, Ada.