Tarkwa is a town and is the capital of

Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal district Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District (), as at 2024, is one of the fifteen districts in Western Region, Ghana, Western Region, Ghana. Originally, it was formerly part of the then-larger Wassa West District in 1988, which was created from the former W ...

, a district in the Western Region southwest of South

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

.Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District
/ref> Frequently dubbed as the "Golden City" by its indigenous populace, the region is characterized by a rich tapestry of Fante communities, among which include Efuanta, Tamso, Aboso, Akoon, Nzemaline, and Kwabedu. Tarkwa has a population of 218,664 people according to 2021 settlement.

Economy

Mining

Tarkwa is noted as a centre of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

and

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

. Tarkwa Mine, which is a large open-cast gold mine, is situated to the northwest of the town, and Nsuta manganese mine is situated to the east of the town. Tarkwa Mine mines several low-grade conglomeratic "reefs" of Tarkwaian type. These reefs are of mid-Proterozoic age. A number of mining companies cluster between the villages of Aboso and Tamso in the late 19th century. Tarkwa Mine has the distinction of being one of the largest

gold mine Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more comple ...

s in South

. Approximately 24 tons of gold is produced annually, and 100 million tons of earth is moved to achieve this production rate. The Iduapriem Gold Mine is also located near Tarkwa, 10 km south of the town.Country report: Ghana - Iduapriem
AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 10 August 2010 The Tarkwa Goldfield was discovered a few years before the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

Goldfield in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. There are a number of accidents that have occurred in mining sites in Tarkwa with the latest being recorded on

Saturday Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the god Saturn. His planet, Saturn, controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. T ...

September September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. September in the Northern Hemisphere and March in the Southern Hemisphere are seasonally equivalent. In the Northern hemisphere, the b ...

23, 2023, when a pit caved in, killing 7 people. Though mining is common in Tarkwa, some areas such as Ndumfri forest reserve are restricted from any mining activity and 3 people were jailed over 60 years for mining in a restricted area in September 2023.

Climate

Education

High schools

Tarkwa Senior High School Tarkwa Senior High School is a co-educational senior high school in the mining town of Tarkwa in the Western Region (Ghana), Western Region of Ghana. History The school was founded in 1961 by the first president of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, unde ...

(TARSCO) and Fiaseman Senior High School (FIASEC) are located in Tarkwa.

University

University of Mines and Technology The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) is a public university located at Tarkwa in the Western Region of Ghana. History UMaT was first established as the Tarkwa Technical Institute in 1952. In 1961, the university was changed to the ...

(UMaT), is located in Tarkwa.

Transport

Train

Tarkwa is a junction

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and is served by Tarkwa Train Station on the

Ghana Railway Corporation Ghana Railway Company Limited (previously known as the Ghana Railway Corporation) is the company that operates the railways of Transport in Ghana, Ghana. The Ghana Railway Company Limited is a public-sector body with responsibility for the eff ...

Politics

Tarkwa is the main political region of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly. Tarkwa Nsuaem is a parliamentary constituency in the Western Region of Ghana, recognized for its contributions to the country's mining sector. Politically, it has consistently supported the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which has won the parliamentary seat in the last five consecutive elections. The constituency's political landscape is marked by high voter turnout and a history of strong support for the NPP. During election periods, the area sees active engagement from candidates representing various political parties, though the NPP has maintained its electoral success in recent years.

Member of Parliament

* Issah Taylor * George Mireku Duker (2008 - 2024)

Tourism

Waterfall

* UMaT

Waterfalls A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

Places

* Longji International Hotel * Hotel de Hilda * Karl's Premier Hotel * Peace Hotel

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Western Region (Ghana) Mining Towns in Ghana