The Obuasi Gold Mine is an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

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 near

Obuasi Obuasi is a Mining Community and town in the southern part of Obuasi Municipal of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Obuasi is the capital of the Obuasi Municipal which lies south of Ashanti capital city Kumasi 39 miles (59.4 kilometres) away south ...

, in the

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

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 ...

. It was at one time one of the world's ten largest gold mines. The mine is in

Obuasi Municipal District Obuasi Municipal District is one of the forty-three districts in Ashanti Region, Ghana. Originally it was formerly part of the then-larger Adansi West District in 1988, until part of the district was split off to create Obuasi Municipal District o ...

, southwest of the regional capital

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

. In 2008,

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 ...

Ashantiland The Asante Empire (Asante Twi: ), today commonly called the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted between 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana as well as parts of Iv ...

operations, consisting of Obuasi and the

Iduapriem Gold Mine The Iduapriem Gold Mine (french: Mine d'or d'Iduapriem) is an open-pit gold mine situated 10 km south of Tarkwa, in the Western Region of Ghana. The mine is owned by AngloGold Ashanti and consists of the Iduapriem and the Teberebie operation ...

, contributed 11% to the company's annual production. At its temporary closure in 2014 Obuasi had past gold production plus current resource of 62 million

troy ounce Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in 15th-century England, and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and the ...

History

There is a long history of mining in the area, with mining from the Ashanti region providing the gold for which the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

got its name. Large scale commercial and industrial mining began at Obuasi in 1897 with the formation of

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 ...

.Obuasi Gold Mine, Ghana
ayiajavon.com, accessed: 9 August 2010 In 2004, Ashanti Goldfields merged with AngloGold to form AngloGold Ashanti. Following heavy losses mining was suspended in late 2014 with about 5,000 employees being laid off and the mine put into

care and maintenance Care and maintenance is a term used in the mining industry to describe processes and conditions on a closed minesite where there is potential to recommence operations at a later date. During a care and maintenance phase, production is stopped but t ...

. During this time a large security force remained on site due to heavy pressure from local illegal miners. In 2016 an Obuasi employee was killed by a mob of illegal miners.Future of Obuasi
There are a number of links on this page to history and news. Accessed April 12, 2016 In 2018, after approvals were received from the Ghanaian Government, the decision was taken to recapitalise the Obuasi gold mine, with work beginning in 2019. The new mechanised mine had its first gold pour in December 2019 and began commercial production on 1 October 2020. It is planned to reach full production in 2022.

Production

Production figures of the recent past were: * The 2004 results are for the eight months from May to December only * The 2019 results are from the December startup 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 Ashanti monarchy Gold mines in Ghana Surface mines in Ghana Underground mines in Ghana AngloGold Ashanti Ashanti Region