Members of the Ghana Mine Workers Union affected by the operations of Zijin Golden Ridge Mining at Abirem and some youth from host communities have protested a directive compelling mining companies to transition from owner mining to contract mining by December 2026.
The workers and youth fear the proposed transition at Zijin Mining and other mining firms could trigger job losses, slash salaries and benefits, and undermine the economic survival of mining communities.
For many families in Abirem in the Birim North Municipality of the Eastern Region and surrounding communities, a job at the mine represents more than a monthly salary.
It is a lifeline that pays school fees, puts food on the table, provides healthcare and keeps small businesses running.
But that lifeline, mineworkers fear, could be threatened if Zijin Mining transitions its operations from owner mining to contract mining.
The workers took to the principal streets of Abirem to protest the Minerals Commission’s directive requiring mining companies to make the transition by December 2026.
To them, beyond the mine gates, the consequences could be far-reaching. Market women, food vendors, shop owners, landlords, transport operators and artisans all depend, directly or indirectly, on the spending power of mineworkers.
Therefore, a reduction in workers’ earnings, they argue, could weaken local businesses and threaten livelihoods across the communities.
“If our salaries and allowances are reduced, how are we going to take care of our families? We have children in school, rent to pay and other responsibilities. We are worried about what will happen to our future.”
For young people in these mining communities, the concern is also about the future. They fear that replacing permanent employment with contract arrangements could expose workers to casualisation, weaker job security and inferior conditions of service.
“The mineworkers are not the only people who will suffer. Their salaries support traders, food vendors, landlords and other businesses. If their incomes reduce, the entire community will feel the impact.”
The demonstrators are therefore calling on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to suspend the directive and engage stakeholders, including workers and host communities, before any transition is implemented.
They insist that promoting local participation in the mining industry must not come at the expense of decent jobs and the economic survival of mining communities.
Led by their local leaders, they presented a petition to the Birim North District Assembly, which was received by the Birim North Coordinating Director, Mark Addo, and the representative of the MP for the Abirem Constituency.
Nicholas Kyei Badu is the Akyem Local Chairman for the Mining Workers Union.
“In view of the foregoing, we respectfully call on the Honourable Minister and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to take the following immediate actions: immediate suspension of the contract mining directive. That the Ministry immediately intervenes to suspend the Minerals Commission’s directive requiring Zijin and other mining companies to transition their core mining operations from owner mining to contract mining by December 2026.”
He also called for meaningful stakeholder consultation.
“We call on the Government to immediately convene a stakeholders’ engagement to discuss local content and its implications on workers and host communities.”
The Mining Workers Union’s Local Secretary, Emmanuel Dodzi, says the absence of clear policy guidelines for contract mining further compounds workers’ concerns and threatens their future.
“Not that we don’t want the country’s local content to thrive. The local contractors, if they give them contract, the amount of money they pay to workers at the end of the month, our end-of-service benefit, there is nothing to write home about. In 2019, when the then government gave Tarkwa Goldfields [to a contractor], the salary of USD 900 was reduced to USD 500.
The same thing is going to happen here. When the local contractor comes, I am not going to earn my benefit. Let’s go to dependency — no local contractor will agree for five dependants to be taken care of by the company, as the owner company does. They will only give you health insurance. There is no policy guideline for the contract mining; the local contractor would short-change local workers with this current situation. Contract miners must be made to pay same as owner companies are currently doing,” he said.
By Yvonne Neequaye
