POLITECNICO DI MILANO Faculty of Architecture and Society Department of Architecture and ...

104 Pages·2013·1.97 MB·English

POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Faculty of Architecture and Society
Department of Architecture and Urban Studies

Master of Science in Urban Planning and Policy Design

MINING, ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY CONFLICTS: A study of Company-
Community conflicts over gold mining and its implications for local community planning in
Ghana

Author
SETH ASARE OKYERE (780332)

Supervisor:
Prof. Carolina Pacchi

December, 2013
ABSTRACT
The environment, its natural resources and development capacity remains a contentious element in
the development process of human society. In Ghana, similarly as Africa and other developing
countries, there is a huge dependence of environmental resources for economic growth and
development. A limited technology and production competency within the local sphere has meant
the need for foreign investment and capital in the exploitation of natural resources. In addition, the
presence of these financially viable and profit appealing resources pulls along interested foreign
interests. Mining gold resources is directly engulfed in this environment and natural resource
exploitation process. However, over the years, in as much as revenue has translated into
development projects and social services, the environment and social impact has become much
visible to local communities within catchment areas. Gold mining in its very core activity is
‘conflictual’ in the sense that it brings structural changes in terms of geographical, social, physical,
economic and environmental dimensions. With mining companies alluding to these as ‘necessary
evils’, local community refute and demand abrogation of large scale gold mining on their ‘land’.
These two primary actors in Ghana are therefore involved in a contentious game of ‘conflicts,
disputes and incompatible goals’. In several mining communities in Ghana the situation is existent
and persistent leading to occasional clashes and protests.
Through an informant data collection approach and secondary data collection, this study analyzed
cases of company-community disputes over gold mining and the underpinning issues, the dispute
resolution strategies, and the weaknesses in the existing framework. The study revealed that
mining’s enormous impact on the environment is not necessary the physical, but also the social and
cultural livelihood of indigenous communities. Cases of disputes centered on compensation,
resettlement packages, unfulfilled promises, mistrust and lack of alternative livelihoods for
economically displaced groups. The dispute resolution strategy was also seen as being too
bureaucratic, poorly connected to the cultural and social intricacies of local communities and
primarily company oriented. Local planning has played little role in the ensuing process and often
seen as a third organization. The study proposed a need for a new framework that considered
communities as integral but not peripheral in the general national framework for mining, a cultural-
social sensitive resolution framework connected to the peculiarities of each mining community, a
re-conceptualization of conflict in a positive dimension in terms of providing avenue for
understanding existing weakness in the mining company and community relation, development of
sensitive, sustaining and empowering local alternative livelihoods and community led co-designed
sustainable development plans.
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RIASSUNTO
L'ambiente, le sue naturali risorse e la capacità di sviluppo rimane un contenzioso elemento nel
processo di sviluppo della società umana. In Ghana, simile come in Africa e altri paesi in via di
sviluppo, c'è un enorme dipendenza verso le risorse ambientali per la crescita economica e
sviluppo. Una limitata tecnologia e la competenza produttiva nella sfera locale hanno dato un
significato al bisogno per gli investimenti esteri e capitale nello sfruttamento delle risorse naturali.
In aggiunta, la presenza di questi finanziariamente vitali e proficuamente attraenti risorse attirano
gli interessi stranieri. Le risorse d'oro nelle miniere sono direttamente ingolfate in questo processo
ambientale di sfruttamento delle risorse naturali. Sebbene, negli anni, le molte entrate si sono
tradotte nello sviluppo di progetti e servizi sociali, l'ambiente e l'impatto sociale sono divenuti più
visibili alle comunità locali nelle aree di raccolta. Il cuore dell'attività nell'estrazione dell'oro è,
“conflittuale” nel senso che porta dei cambiamenti strutturali in termini di dimensioni geografici,
sociali, fisici, economici. Con le compagnie di miniera che alludono a queste come “cattiva
necessità”, le comunità locale si rifiuta e domanda un'abrogazione su larga scala dell'estrazione
dell'oro sul loro “territorio”. Questi due principali attori in Ghana sono perciò coinvolti in un
contenzioso gioco di “conflitti, dispute e obbiettivi incompatibili”. In diverse comunità minerarie in
Ghana la situazione è esistente e persistente conducendo a scontri e proteste occasionali.
Attraverso un approccio di dati informatici raccolti e una seconda raccolta dati, questo studio
analizza casi di dispute tra compagnia e comunità sulle questioni sottostanti, la disputa per le
strategie risolutive e le debolezze nella struttura esistente. Lo studio ha rilevato che l'enorme
impatto minerario sull'ambiente non è necessariamente fisico, ma anche sociale e culturale della
vita delle comunità indigene. Casi di controversie incentrate sul compenso, pacchetti di
risistemazione, promesse mancate, sfiducia e mancanza di vite economicamente alternative per
gruppi profughi. La disputa sulla strategia risolutiva veniva vista anche come essere troppo
burocratica, poco connessa all'aspetto intrinseco culturale e sociale delle comunità locali e orientata
principalmente alla compagnia. La pianificazione locale ha avuto un ruolo marginale nel
conseguimento del processo e spesso vista come una terza organizzazione. Lo studio propone un
bisogno per una nuova struttura che considera le comunità come integrali e non marginali nella
generale struttura nazionale mineraria, una struttura risolutiva culturalmente e socialmente sensibile
connesso alle peculiarità di ogni comunità mineraria, una riconcettualizzazione del conflitto in una
dimensione positiva in termini che provvedono la via verso la comprensione delle debolezze
esistenti nella relazione tra compagnie minerarie e comunità, sviluppo sensibile, sostenibile e
rafforzato della vita alternativa locale e comunità guidata a co dei piani di sviluppo sostenibile.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
‘Oh God, our help in ages past and our hope for years to come…’
‘God of our wearied years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far on the way…’

With a heart of praise and gratitude, I thank my God for his enormous grace and mercies towards
my life. His providence, grace, mercies and favor led has led me through and through and has given
me wisdom to pursue my educational career. Glory unto His holy name! I also wish to thank my
family especially my mother Josephine Adumea and my uncle Sampson Opare Asare, Frederick
Owusu Mensah and Ama Agyeiwaa Boakye for their enormous support towards my studies in
Milan.
I also acknowledge Politecnico di Milano for the financial support in terms of the Gold Scholarship
offered me to pursue this Masters program. Without such a support my studies and stay in Milan
without have been possible. Sincere appreciation also goes to the teaching staff of Politecnico di
Milano for such a scholarly experience and impartation of knowledge. I shall however single out
Prof. Massimo Bricocoli, Prof. Balducci and Prof. Matteo Bartholomeo for their encouragement,
inspiration and support.
I am particularly grateful to Prof. Carolina Pacchi for her time, inspiration, warmness, knowledge
and effort she made in supervising my work. Her comments during reviews, reference suggestions,
encouragement and availability made this output possible. She has offered an invaluable service
even outside supervision toward my two years studies and I heartily appreciate this service.
To Anastasia Amoako Arhen, my pen cannot write neither words enough to describe your critical
role assisting in this study, your inputs, field data and personal inspiration and drive gave me the
urge for this study, and made possible meeting the objectives of this study. To all my colleagues
and mates who made my stay in Milan a homely experience, I am thankful. I also thank all
members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Sesto-Bergamo for their support and assistance
over the past two years.

.

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CHAPTER ONE
MINING-ENVIRONMENT DILEMMAS AND CONFLICT IN COMMUNITIES
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Problem Statement .................................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Study .......................................................................................... 4
1.4 Scope of the Study ................................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Research Approach ................................................................................................................. 5
1.6 Research Process ..................................................................................................................... 5
1.7 Sampling ................................................................................................................................... 5
1.8 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................ 6
1.9 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER
CONCEPTUALISING MINING CONFLICTS AND THE COMPANY-COMMUNITY
INTERFACE
2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Conflict ..................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Environmental Conflicts ....................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Mining and Conflicts ............................................................................................................. 13
2.4 Company-Community Relations in Mining ........................................................................ 14
2.4.1 Cases of Company-Community relations in Gold Mining ............................................... 15
2.5 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ............................................................................... 18
2.6 Contestation in the Mining Sector: Patterns of Protest ..................................................... 21
2.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 22
CHAPTER THREE
HISTORICAL AND GOVERNANCE CONTEXT OF MINING IN GHANA
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 23
3.2 History of Mining in Ghana ................................................................................................. 23
V
3.3 Institutional and Regulatory Framework of the Mining sector ......................................... 26
3.3.1 Policy ................................................................................................................................ 26
3.3.3 Regulatory Framework ..................................................................................................... 30
3.4 Mining Reforms ..................................................................................................................... 31
3.5 Legal Framework of the Mining Sector .............................................................................. 32
3.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 33
CHAPTER FOUR
MINING COMPANIES AND COMMUNITIES: CONTEXT AND PROFILE
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 34
4.2 AngloGold Ashanti Gold Mining Limited (AAGL) ........................................................... 34
4.1.1 Brief Overview of the Mining Company .......................................................................... 34
4.1.2 Evolution of the Company ................................................................................................ 35
4.2 Profiling Obuasi Municipality .............................................................................................. 35
4.2.1 Location ............................................................................................................................ 35
4.2.3 Conditions of the Natural Environment ............................................................................ 39
4.2.4 Spatial Organization ......................................................................................................... 39
4.2.5 Population and Social Characteristics .............................................................................. 39
4.3 Surface Accessibility .............................................................................................................. 41
4.4 Local Government ................................................................................................................. 41
4.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 43
CHAPTER FIVE
BEYOND PERCEPTIONS: ENVIRONMENTAL COST OF MINING IN OBUASI
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 44
5.2 Environmental Effects of Mining within the Obuasi Catchment Communities ............. 44
5.2.1 Water Pollution ................................................................................................................. 45
5.3 Illegal Mining Activities ........................................................................................................ 51
VI
5.3.1 Mercury Pollution ............................................................................................................. 52
5.3.2 Land Degradation ............................................................................................................. 52

CHAPTER SIX
CASES OF COMPANY-COMMUNITY DISPUTES
6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 54
6.2 Company-Community Expectations from Mining towards Development ...................... 54
6.2.1 Community’s Expectations from Mining Explorations .................................................... 54
6.2.2 Mining Companies Expectations ...................................................................................... 56
6.3 Cases of Disputes between Companies and Communities ................................................. 57
6.3.1 CASE 1: Mining induced Impoverishment (Anyinam Community) ................................ 57
6.3.2 Case II: Today’s Social Demands for Yesterdays Costs (Pompora/ PTP/ Ahimadukrom) ...
61
6.3.3 Case III: Unfulfilled Agreements, Broken Relationships (Dokyiwaa Community) ......... 64
6.4 Illegal Mining: Rationalization of Illegality or Mining induced illegality? ..................... 68
6.5 Company Strategies for Addressing Disputes .................................................................... 70
6.5.1 Existing Communication Avenues for Community-Mining Issues .................................. 70
6.5.2 The Draft Revised Complaints and Grievance Procedure (RCGP) .................................. 71
6.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 73

CHAPTER SEVEN
SUMMARY, IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION
7.2 Summary of Findings ............................................................................................................ 74
7.2.1 Varying Expectations of Mining Development Impact .................................................... 74
7.2.2 Disputes within the AGA-Community Interface .............................................................. 75
7.2.3 Illegal Mining ................................................................................................................... 77
7.2.4 The Complaints and Grievance Frameowork (Dispute Resolution Strategy) .................. 77
VII
7.3 Implications to local community planning .......................................................................... 78
7.4 Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 79
7.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 83
Bibliography ..................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Mitchell Conflict Model ...................................................................................................... 8
Figure 1: Homer-Dixon Framework ................................................................................................. 12
Figure 1: Institutional Framework of the Mining Sector in Ghana ................................................... 29
Figure 4.1: Structure of Obuasi Municipality ................................................................................... 42
Figure 6.1: Network Analysis for Case 1 .......................................................................................... 59
Figure 6.2: Actor Network for Case II .............................................................................................. 63
Figure 6.3: Actor Network for Case III ............................................................................................. 67

IX
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Summary of Mining Sector Players .................................................................................. 30
Table 6.1: Actors ............................................................................................................................... 59
Table 6.2: Actors ............................................................................................................................... 63
Table 6.3 Actors ................................................................................................................................ 66

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