Fresh controversy has erupted around the Bogoso-Prestea Mine after Heath GoldFields Limited (HGL), the company at the centre of a heated ownership dispute, announced the release of two additional 25-acre portions of its concession to support the Government of Ghana’s Cooperative Mining Project.
The decision, announced despite the mine being the subject of an active international arbitration case, has intensified suspicions of what many observers have already described as an “unholy alliance” between Heath Goldfields and the state.
Critics say the move not only undermines the integrity of the arbitration process but also deepens the unease generated by the opaque circumstances under which Future Global Resources (FGR)/Blue Gold’s licence was stripped and subsequently handed to HGL.
The release of the land — 50 acres in total — is being positioned by HGL as a gesture of support for job creation, expanded local participation and improved livelihoods through the cooperative mining mechanism.
Heath Goldfields further claims the decision was prompted by formal requests from local authorities, including the Chief Executive of the Prestea Huni Valley Municipal Assembly, the area’s Member of Parliament and divisional chiefs of the Himan, Bogoso and Nsuta Traditional Areas.
But the timing and manner of the release have triggered questions about the government’s role in the ongoing contest over the concession.
Analysts say no portion of an asset under active litigation should be ceded, surrendered or altered until legal processes are concluded.
By accepting — or encouraging — these releases, the government risks reinforcing perceptions that it is entangled in an improper relationship with HGL.
Heath Goldfields’s statement identifies two areas it says can be ceded “without materially affecting” its core operations.
The first is a 25-acre parcel in the Nsuta Mbease Traditional Area with potential inferred resources of 260,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 3.16 g/t gold, translating to about 26,400 ounces.
The second, in the Heman Prestea Traditional Area, sits on ground with historical production of about 100,000 tonnes at an average grade of 2.25 g/t, yielding approximately 7,200 ounces of gold.
Patrick Appiah Mensah, Managing Director of HGL, argued that the selected areas advance the government’s cooperative mining vision while preserving the long-term viability of the company’s core assets.
HGL has since asked the Minerals Commission to incorporate the land releases into its permitting and approval processes.
However, these assurances have done little to calm the growing turbulence around the Bogoso-Prestea concession.
Just days before the announcement, hundreds of angry illegal miners flooded the streets in the largest anti-HGL protest the area has seen in months.
Wearing red and chanting war songs, the demonstrators accused Heath Goldfields — owned by former Finance Minister and major NDC financier Dr. Kwabena Duffuor — of deepening hardship in the community by forcing them off lands where they have historically mined for survival.
They further alleged that the company has failed to restart operations at the defunct mine and has instead demolished critical shaft infrastructure rather than repairing it.
Their fury was fuelled by claims that HGL entered the concession without proper community engagement, leaving residents sidelined in decisions affecting their livelihoods.
Adding to the tensions are more than 400 laid-off workers who say they are still battling to receive severance packages from the company months after being dismissed.
With litigation ongoing in an international forum, governance experts say HGL’s latest land release only compounds an already troubling situation.
It raises uncomfortable questions: Why is land being ceded in the middle of an arbitration over ownership?
Why is the state accepting — and facilitating — incremental control changes on a disputed concession? And who ultimately benefits from these decisions?
Until transparent answers are provided, the spectre of an unhealthy, politically driven alliance between government and Heath Goldfields will continue to hang heavily over the Bogoso-Prestea Mine and the communities whose livelihoods depend on it.
