Mkungo
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- Mar 12, 2009
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Guinea military junta chief orders shut down of AngloGold Siguiri mine
The military junta which now governs Guinea has ordered AngloGold Ashanti to shut down the Siguiri gold mine after a director of the mining company missed a meeting of mining executives.
Author: Saliou Samb
Posted: Friday , 20 Mar 2009
CONAKRY (Reuters) -
Guinea's military junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara told gold miner AngloGold Ashanti to shut down its operations in the West African country on Friday after a director failed to attend a meeting of mining executives, Camara said.
Mining is a pillar of the Guinean economy. Companies such as Rio Tinto, Alcoa and Rusal have spent billions of dollars in the country, which is the world's biggest exporter of aluminium ore bauxite, and has the potential to become a large iron ore producer.
"At the start of the day I ordered the closure of AngloGold Ashanti," Camara said in a state television broadcast. "The director of (the company) is not superior to all the other directors who are here."
AngloGold Ashanti operates Guinea's biggest gold mine at Siguiri in the northeast of the country, where it produced 329,412 ounces in 2007. The Guinean state holds a 15 percent stake in the mine.
"Discussions are underway between AngloGold Ashanti and the government of Guinea following a meeting held yesterday with President Camara," the company said in an e-mail on Friday.
"At the meeting AngloGold Ashanti was requested to close its Siguiri mine until a further conversation could be held. This temporary closure has now been undertaken.
"AngloGold Ashanti representatives met with the Minister of Mines of Guinea and with his deputy in the course of the morning and will be meeting the President later in the day in order to resolve the situation," it said.
Non-attendance at a mining forum called by Camara has become a politically sensitive issue.
On Thursday, the young soldier who seized power after President Lansana Conte died last December said he was suspending two government ministers responsible for private sector promotion and cooperation as a punishment for their absence from the forum's opening ceremony.
Soon after taking power, Camara said his administration would review the state's contracts with resources firms, a line that was later toned down.
He has vowed to combat corruption, and earlier this month a senior official publicly demanded that several former mining ministers repay millions of dollars he said they had embezzled.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb; Editing and additional reporting by Daniel Magnowski in Dakar; editing by Sue Thomas)
We need this kind of actions in our country!
The military junta which now governs Guinea has ordered AngloGold Ashanti to shut down the Siguiri gold mine after a director of the mining company missed a meeting of mining executives.
Author: Saliou Samb
Posted: Friday , 20 Mar 2009
CONAKRY (Reuters) -
Guinea's military junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara told gold miner AngloGold Ashanti to shut down its operations in the West African country on Friday after a director failed to attend a meeting of mining executives, Camara said.
Mining is a pillar of the Guinean economy. Companies such as Rio Tinto, Alcoa and Rusal have spent billions of dollars in the country, which is the world's biggest exporter of aluminium ore bauxite, and has the potential to become a large iron ore producer.
"At the start of the day I ordered the closure of AngloGold Ashanti," Camara said in a state television broadcast. "The director of (the company) is not superior to all the other directors who are here."
AngloGold Ashanti operates Guinea's biggest gold mine at Siguiri in the northeast of the country, where it produced 329,412 ounces in 2007. The Guinean state holds a 15 percent stake in the mine.
"Discussions are underway between AngloGold Ashanti and the government of Guinea following a meeting held yesterday with President Camara," the company said in an e-mail on Friday.
"At the meeting AngloGold Ashanti was requested to close its Siguiri mine until a further conversation could be held. This temporary closure has now been undertaken.
"AngloGold Ashanti representatives met with the Minister of Mines of Guinea and with his deputy in the course of the morning and will be meeting the President later in the day in order to resolve the situation," it said.
Non-attendance at a mining forum called by Camara has become a politically sensitive issue.
On Thursday, the young soldier who seized power after President Lansana Conte died last December said he was suspending two government ministers responsible for private sector promotion and cooperation as a punishment for their absence from the forum's opening ceremony.
Soon after taking power, Camara said his administration would review the state's contracts with resources firms, a line that was later toned down.
He has vowed to combat corruption, and earlier this month a senior official publicly demanded that several former mining ministers repay millions of dollars he said they had embezzled.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb; Editing and additional reporting by Daniel Magnowski in Dakar; editing by Sue Thomas)
We need this kind of actions in our country!
