Voices of Tomorrow’s Leaders Foundation, an environmental oriented NGO has called on the government to reopen the defunct underground mine of  the Prestea Goldfields Limited in the Western Region because it served as a huge source of income for the mine’s catchments areas.
    
“For us the youth, the underground mine provided us with secured jobs and thus prevented us from getting involved in social vices.”
    
In a statement signed by the Executive Director of the Foundation, Mr. Joe Emmanuel Nkrumah he condemned the advent of surface mining in the area, citing pollution of streams, cracking of buildings, upsurge of diseases, and destruction of lands as some of the negative effects associated with the practice.
 
“We are also opposed to the intended expansion of surface mining operations by Golden Star Resources to cover Mbease-Nsuta and Bondaye because we believe that the company would export its bad corporate behaviour and environmental pollution there,” the statement said.
  
The Foundation observed that rather than address the problems the company had created for the people of Prestea and Heman, it had rather expanded its operations.
   
“We wish to establish that the people of Prestea and its environs were not involved in the preparation of the Scoping report which formed the basis of the EIA study for the second phase of the operation,” the statement said.
  
The Foundation expressed concern about the second phase of the company’s operations, saying it would affect the Alpha, Beta and Gamma shafts which act as the down cast ventilation shaft for the Prestea Underground workings, as well as the only Government hospital and International school.
  
According to the statement, the second phase would also affect the road from Prestea to Bondaye since it would be used to haul ore to the processing plant until a separate access road was developed.
  
The statement said the Environmental Protection Agency was very much aware of the implications of leaving a big pit in Prestea and urged the EPA to ensure that the company reclaimed the abandoned Plant North pit before thinking about expanding the programme.
   
The Foundation urged the EPA not to support the second phase of the activities of the company until it had provided a clear programme for revamping the underground mine and also taken measures to address problems associated with the Plant North operations, including the reclamation of the Plant North Pit.

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