Obuasi is a

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

and town in the southern part of Obuasi Municipal of 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 m ...

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 Tog ...

. Obuasi is the capital of the Obuasi Municipal which lies south of Ashanti capital city

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 t ...

39 miles (59.4 kilometres) away south-west of Kumasi or 1 hour 2 minutes road-drive from Obuasi to Kumasi. Obuasi has a

settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

population of 175,043 people. Obuasi

gold bar A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...

mining community A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historic mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendig ...

has delicate mosaic from the

Ashanti people The Asante, also known as Ashanti () are part of the Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asa ...

culture of Ashanti and the semi-island

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

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 ...

. Obuasi wears a ring of hills as its adornment and Obuasi sits quietly albeit industriously on the soil that births the top-9 single richest

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes fro ...

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

mining, mine on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

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 ...

. Gold Coast region was named after the large amount of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

mined historically at Obuasi and the broader

Economy

Obuasi is known for the

, one of the largest underground gold mines in the world. With gold having been mined on the site since at least the seventeenth century. The Obuasi Gold Mine is currently being recapitalised after having been put into Care and Maintenance in 2014. The mine is expected to reach full production in 2022 after which it is expected to have a life of mine of excess of 20 years.

Transportation

Train and air

Obuasi train station is on the Ashanti

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

to and from Kumasi (39 miles or 59.4 kilometres or 1 hour 2 minutes south-west of Kumasi) and Obuasi also has an

airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

and airport.

Tourist attractions

Tourists can visit the town's mine by arranging with the Public Relations Directorate of Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC). Operated by 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 ...

(AGC), formerly the

State-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owne ...

Ashanti company

(AGC), it was the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC) company's largest mine until the AGC company merged in 2004 to create the

's second-largest gold producer, Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA) with the merging of the South African company AngloGold.

Education

Obuasi is the site of the

Obuasi Senior High Technical School Obuasi Senior High Technical School is a co-educational second-cycle public high school institution in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The school recently reached the quarter-finals of the National Science and Maths Quiz Competition. They ha ...

mixed-sex education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

al second cycle

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school. Christ the King Catholic Senior High School, St. Margaret Senior High School, and the College of Integrated Health Care. Obuasi is the site for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)-Obuasi Campus.

Climate

Obuasi has a semi-equatorial

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Aw'') with two rainy seasons. The main rainy season is from March to July, with May and June being typically the year's wettest months, whilst a lighter rainy season occurs from September to November. The average annual rainfall in Obuasi is around and the average temperature with highs of and lows of . Relative

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...

is around 75% - 80% in the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

Healthcare

Obuasi is also noted for its healthcare facilities, such as the AGA Hospital owned by the Anglo Gold corporation, and also for a private health facility, St. Jude Hospital, owned by Dr George Owusu-Asiedu. The facility is noted for many successful surgeries and numerous successful births at the maternity division of the hospital.

Golfing and stadium

Obuasi has a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

, and the Obuasi Ashanti Gold Sporting Club, a professional football club, is based at Obuasi's

Len Clay Stadium Len Clay Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Obuasi, Ghana. It was opened on 10 May 1990 and renovated on 17 April 2005 and is home to Ashanti Gold Sporting Club. It has capacity for 20,000 people. History Len Clay Stadium was opened on 10 May 1 ...

Notable people

Notable people from Obuasi

mining town A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historic mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Be ...

include: * Sam E. Jonah ( KBE), the former CEO of Ashanti Goldfields Company, *

Jonathan Mensah Jonathan Mensah (born 13 July 1990), commonly known simply as Jonathan, is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes. He previously played for Ashanti Gold, Free State Stars ...

, Ghanaian footballer *

Yaw Boakye Yiadom Yaw or yaws may refer to: Measurement and technology Movement about the vertical axis * Yaw angle (or yaw rotation), one of the angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing rotation about the vertical axis * ...

, *

John Mensah John Mensah (born 29 November 1982) is a former Ghanaian professional footballer who last played as a defender for AFC United in the Swedish second-tier . Born in Obuasi, Ashanti, Mensah is a product of the scouting system in Ghana that ide ...

, Ghanaian footballer.

Sister cities

As of 13 September 2008, Obuasi has been a sister city of

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

, United States.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Ashanti Region