Australian minister to fly to Africa as local leader labels Chinese mine ‘bloodthirsty’

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts will fly to Ghana to campaign for the Australian mining industry as observers warn a deadly multimillion-dollar dispute between an Australian and a Chinese state-linked mine is a ticking time bomb.

Watts told African and Australian mining business leaders in Perth on Wednesday that Australia would continue to stand up for “democratic principles” and “the global rules-based order” when he travels to the West Africa Mining Security Conference in Accra in September.

Assistant Foreign Minister Tim Watts will visit Ghana over a dispute between an Australian and a Chinese state-linked mine.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“Instability and insecurity threaten the international rules-based order, and our shared peace and prosperity,” he said. “We want to help African governments deliver responsible, accountable and effective mining governance.”

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed last week that Australian miner Cassius was preparing to launch a $395 million action against the Ghanaian government in the London Court of International Arbitration, alleging it had allowed Chinese miner Shaanxi to steal millions of dollars worth of gold from its mining concession. Dozens of local miners have been killed inside the Shaanxi mine in northern Ghana, which has also been beset by claims of corruption and allegations of murder. Shaanxi has denied the allegations.

Watts said Australian mining companies have invested an estimated $40 billion across the African continent and “earned a reputation for integrity and corporate responsibility, mining safety, ensuring environmental sustainability and protection, and for developing their workforce”.

He said he could not comment directly on The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s series Blood Gold because it was before the courts, but senior political leaders in Ghana have been outraged by the revelations.

Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila Adagbila, who supported the arrival of Shaanxi in northern Ghana a decade ago, said he was ashamed of his own government’s actions.

“This was a kind of business hijack in favour of foreign Chinese [business] against a local citizen,” he said.

Gambila’s brother Charles Taleog Ndanbon helped bring the Chinese miner to the area in 2008 to inject funds into the local economy. Ndanbon was later acquitted of attempting to bribe a journalist to stop a press report, and is currently in a dispute with Shaanxi.

“I feel hurt not by Shaanxi per se, but the manner of approvals, and authorisations by state institutions under my own government appointees. I am very hurt and disappointed. A day will come. It will never end until right is right,” Gambila said.

The town of Gban, Talensi, where the Shaanxi mine is located.Credit: Francis Kokoroko

Talensi assemblyman Daniel Zoog said the Chinese state-linked miner had not provided any facilities in the district while allegedly bribing local officials, stealing gold from the Australian mine and causing the death of local miners.

“The Shaanxi Mining Company, now called Earl International, is a bloodthirsty company that doesn’t have sympathy for the entire people of the Talensi district,” he said.

“Some of the schools in the district are lacking furniture and the students are always lying on their bellies to write. The company is only interested in satisfying some leaders whom it knows will support its operations.”

West African security analyst Adam Bonaa said the situation in the local community was volatile.

“A day will come when the people [will] rise up. They will rise up against everybody including the traditional leaders and government.

“And so, I think the traditional leaders, and especially the assemblymen and the rest, the youth leaders, should begin to ask more questions and begin to probe further. If that is not done, it is just a ticking bomb.”

Samuel Jinapor, Ghana’s minister for natural resources, and Martin Kwaku Ayisi, head of the Ghanaian Minerals Commission, who both began their roles in 2021, years after the Shaanxi scandal, are scheduled to speak at the Africa Down Under conference in Perth on Thursday.

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