Dr Seth Appiah Kubi, an environmentalist and National Director of A.Rocha Ghana, says there is no example in the world, justifying the government’s decision to mine bauxite in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve.

This was as the government through the Attorney General (A-G) has taken a position that bauxite mining has evolved and there is a sustainable way of mining bauxite all over the world, citing Awaso in Ghana, Jurutu in the Amazon Rain Forest of Brazil, and forest in Australia. 

Dr Kubi, however, after giving his evidence-in-chief in a case A.Rocha Ghana and 10 others have brought up against the state, indicated during cross-examination that the devastating effects of bauxite mining in Awaso, in particular is nothing good to write home about.

According to him, the Awa River, which takes it source from the forest, in which bauxite mining is taking place, is polluted as well as underground water, and by far, it has affected the quality and dignity of the life the residents.

He added that residents of Awaso lives had been so much affected that they can’t harvest even rain water, due to the effect of the red dust from the bauxite mining site that settles on their buildings’ roofs.

Dr Kubi explained to the General Jurisdiction 10 of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice John Nyante Nyandu that the process of mining bauxite leaves residues of harmful chemicals, red mud, which sinks deep into the soil and also pollutes the environment.

He added that the people of Awaso cannot drink from their boreholes because they are polluted, therefore, finds it difficult to agree with the A-G that the Awaso mines is mining bauxite sustainably and restoring the ecosystem gradually as it mines.

Dr Kubi explains: “I disagree. In Awaso, the Awa river which takes its source from the forest, in which the bauxite is mined is destroyed. The water is used to wash the bauxite so the community cannot drink the water anymore. The red mud has seeped into the community boreholes. The red dust as a result of blasting prevents the community from harvesting even rain water. 

…in Australia, mining is done almost in the desert. The vegetation type in the area is monoculture, one tree type area. This flat land can be dug out and it’s monotype tree can be planted back. This is not the same as the ecologically zone of Atewa forest.

Even Brazil it can be shown that communities are in arms against bauxite mining companies for polluting their water bodies and depriving them of their livelihoods.”

The A. Rocha Ghana National Director added that hydrologically area like the Atewa where several streams and rivers take their sources from should not be mined, since the red mud and other chemicals used in mining bauxite will pollute these water sources and affect millions of lives.

When the A-G team led by Loana Johnson-Abassah put it to the 1st plaintiff whether he was not confusing gold mining with bauxite mining, since the red mud is created using water and the only stage the chemical is used is in the processing room and not the mining site.

The 1st plaintiff disagreed, despite stating that he is not a mining expert and cannot tell the court at which stages of the bauxite mining process that the chemicals listed in his witness statement are applied.

What is happening now in the Atewa Range Forest

According to him, part of the forest is being destroyed and these pre-events are actual mining.

He added it was a result of these campaigns that EXTON Cubic was prevented access into the Atewa Range Forest but the A-G disagrees, adding that EXTON Cubic could not mine the forest because of lack of parliamentary approval.

Ambush litigation

However, the A-G/defendant put it to him that there is no evidence in his witness statement supporting the claim,  his counsel, Martin Kpebu pray the court for leave to file a supplementary documents.

The defendant’s objected to the prayer on the grounds the plaintiff had over a year to prepare its before coming to court and categorically made allegation of ore mining activities without regard to due process.

However, Martin Kpebu insisted that those documents were available but the court responded the days of ambush litigation were long gone and that every document needed to support one’s must be disclosed.

The court overruled the objection and ordered the plaintiff to file those documents by close of Monday, February 6, 2023 and adjourned to February 7.