The Iduapriem Gold Mine (french: Mine d'or d'Iduapriem) is an

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

gold mine Gold Mine may refer to: *Gold Mine (board game) *Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena *"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album '' ADHD'' See also * ''Gold'' (1974 film), based on the novel ''Gold Mine'' by Wilbur Smith *Gold mining ...

situated 10 km south of

Tarkwa Tarkwa is a town and is the capital of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal district, a district in the Western Region southwest of South Ghana. Tarkwa has a 2013 settlement population of 34,941 people. Economy Mining Tarkwa is noted as a centre of gold m ...

, in the Western Region of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. The mine is owned by

AngloGold Ashanti AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. It was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. It is now a global gold producer with 21 operations on four continents. The company is listed ...

and consists of the Iduapriem and the Teberebie operation, which were merged in 2000.Annual Report 2009
AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 9 August 2010 AngloGold Ashanti originally only owned 85% of the mine but acquired the remaining 15% in September 2007.Country report: Ghana - Iduapriem
AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 10 August 2010 In 2008, AngloGold Ashanti's Ghana operations, consisting of Iduapriem and the

Obuasi Gold Mine The Obuasi Gold Mine is an underground gold mine situated near Obuasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It was at one time one of the world's ten largest gold mines. The mine is in Obuasi Municipal District, southwest of the regional capital Kuma ...

, contributed 11% to the company's annual production. Both mines became part of AngloGold Ashanti when AngloGold merged with the

Ashanti Goldfields Corporation The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Joseph Ellis and Joseph Biney both from Cape Coast. The Ashanti Mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897. Dur ...

in 2004. In 2009, the mine employed 1,447 people. The mine has been fatality-free since 1999.

Environmental impact

The mine and its owners have been criticised in the past for the loss of land for local farmers, the pollution and drying-up of local rivers and watersources and the lack of action to combat these issues. Mining at Iduapriem was suspended for a time in early 2010 to allow for the construction of a temporary tailings storage facility at the mine. The operators were told by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana to suspend operations over "potentially adverse environmental impacts arising from the current tailings storage facility".EPA orders Iduapriem Mine to stop using tailings storage facility
ghanaweb.com, accessed: 10 August 2010

Mine ownership

Majority-owned by the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation from 2000 onwards, ownership of this 85% share of the operation was transferred to AngloGold Ashanti with the merger of Ashanti and AngloGold in 2004. The new company owned an 80% share of Iduapriem, with the remaining 20% held by the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of t ...

, and a 90% share of Teberebie, with the

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...

holding the remainder. Combined, this accumulated to an 85% share for AngloGold Ashanti in the whole operation. In September 2007, the company acquired the remaining 15% as well.

Production

Production figures of the recent past were: * The 2004 results are for the eight month from May to December only.

References

External links

AngloGold Ashanti website

''Secretariat of the

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group ...

website'' {{AngloGold Ashanti Gold mines in Ghana Surface mines in Ghana AngloGold Ashanti Western Region (Ghana)