Asanko Gold Ghana Limited won multiple awards at the 2022 Ghana Mining Industry Awards held in Accra.
The company received five awards, including the coveted Mining Company of the Year, Best Performer in Local Content, and first runner-up in Corporate Social Investment Project of the Year from the Ghana Chamber of Mines – organisers of the annual event.
It also emerged the second runner-up in the Best Performer in Occupational Health and Safety and second runner-up in the Best Performer in Exploration (senior category).
Commenting on the achievements, Asanko Gold’s Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Dr. Charles Amoah, said: “We feel great and highly elated, and it is a recognition of all the good things that Asanko Gold Ghana Limited has been doing over the years to keep the mine going”.
Winning five awards, particularly the overall Mining Company of the Year, he added, also goes to show the sterling performance of Asanko Gold in contributing to the country’s export earnings and economy at large.
The company was able to make all these strides in the face of the disruptions to global supply chains and economic crisis partly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic due to what Dr. Amoah describes as pragmatic practices, perseverance and hard work from employees.
“As we all know, we all moved into a changing world in the last two years, where we have COVID and other international impacts coming into our operations, but with pragmatic practices, perseverance and hard work from our employees, we managed to survive in the face of the challenges and we are happy with the progress we are making at Asanko,” he explained.
More importantly, he said Asanko holds its employees and shareholders in high esteem, and strongly believes in the values of respect and co-existence with host communities. All these, he noted, have contributed to the growth and recognition of the company in recent times.
Catalyst for community development
As a company that believes in shared prosperity, he explained that the company’s business model revolves around leveraging shared resources to accelerate development in the communities in which it operates.
To achieve this prosperity, Asanko sets asides US$2 from every ounce of gold produce toward community development.
The money is then invested in priority areas like education, health, small-scale enterprise and business empowerment under what is known as Asanko opportunities cycle.
“We believe that gold deposits do not occur in a vacuum; it always occurs in a place where people dwell; so, we would always like to give back to the communities in which we operate, and Asanko strategically has come up with the opportunity cycle model, where we want our presence to be a catalyst for development.
“We might not be professionals in developing communities but we want to leverage our presence as a catalyst for community development,” Dr. Amoah said.
The company’s strategy for community development is strongly pivoted around education, health, and skills development and small-scale enterprise empowerment. It does this by partnering non-governmental organisations and donor partners.
Currently, five major community projects, including a 5-unit market stores with a 4-unit water closet, a 5-unit single teachers’ quarters, a community centre, a 6-unit classroom block, and a 10-seater water closet are ongoing.
“We would like to operate in an environment of co-existence with our communities, ensuring that we are very honest, transparent, delivering value to shareholders and stakeholders, and contributing to the growth of our economy from the district level to regional and national levels.
“Asanko is committed to observing all regulatory requirements and laws of the country,” Dr. Amoah concluded.
