The Ministry of Lands of Natural Resources has announced a fine of US$ 6milion against mining explosives manufacturing company, MAXAM Ghana Limited in relation to the explosion incident at Apiate on January 20, 2022.
This comes on the back of an explosion by a truck belonging to the company which destroyed the Apiate community.
The truck was transposing explosive material— Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil (ANFO) - from MAXAM Ghana Limited's explosives plant, located at Iduapriem, Tarkwa in the Western Region, to Chirano Gold lines Limited's site in the Western North Region.
Some thirteen (13) persons are reported to have died from the incident, with some one hundred (100) people injured, and several others rendered homeless due to the impact of the explosion which brought down, or structurally weakened, almost all houses in the Apiate community.
In a release signed by the sector Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor and dated Monday, January 7, 2022, the minister stated that the fine includes a US$1 milion administrative fine and another $5 for general sanctions.
The decision according to the minister was after a three-member committee established to investigate the explosion, found MAXAM to have breached some regulations guarding its operations.
While the amount of US$1 million is to be paid as a condition precedent for the restoration of MAXAM’s operating license for the manufacturing, storing, transporting and supplying of mining explosives in the country, the remaining $5 million is to be paid in monthly instalments over a period of 18 months.
In addition to the fines, the minister outlined a list of measures as condition precedent for the restoration of MAXAM’s license.
The measures which relate to all activities covering the transportation of mining explosives according to the minister apply fully, to all companies operating in Ghana in the manufacture, supply, transporting, and use of explosives.
The measures as outlined by the minister are;
1. Maxam shall not transport explosives on d public road, unless notice of the transportation has been given to the Chief Inspector of Mines or the Regional Mines Inspector, at least, forty-eight (48) hours before the scheduled time for transportation, to enable the requisite inspection and certification to be carried out before the transportation of the explosives to a mine or quarry site.
2. An Inspector of Mines/Explosives shall be present, inspect, verify and record in the designated explosives logbook for transportation, that all the requisite safety requirements, rules and protocols have been met before explosives are transported from the operational site of the company to a mine or quarry site.
3. An Inspector of Mines/Explosives shall physically inspect the explosives truck to ensure that the explosives truck is in good working condition, in accordance with the truck examination list, and that the truck driver has a professional driver's license to drive the vehicle before the loading of the explosives into the truck.
4. All trucks used by the company in carting explosives shall have:
a. A red flashing light clearly visible at least hundred (100) meters away;
b. A klaxon or siren, hooter or automatically operated bell;
c. An automatic fire suppression system alongside the fire extinguishers;
d. A tracking system to monitor the speed and movement of the explosives truck;
e. An integrated monitoring system to check driver fatigue;
f. A megaphone to warn people or bystanders in case of danger; and
g. Drive cameras to monitor the explosives' truck drivers.
5. Before each explosives' truck takes off from the operational site of the company, the waybill for the transportation shall be endorsed by an Inspector of Mines/Explosives who shall be satisfied that the explosives are under the direct control of a person who has a certificate of competence, in accordance with regulation 15 (2) of L.1.2177.
6. All trucks transporting explosives must be accompanied by escort vehicles which shall be inspected by an Inspector of Mines, and all the details recorded in the Inspector’s Field Book.
7. Escort vehicles must have:
a. A red flashing light clearly visible at least Fifty (50) meters away; and
b. A klaxon or siren or hooter or automatically operated bell.
8. The transportation of explosives on public roads shall have two (2) Escorts: one (1) leading the explosives truck and maintaining a distance of at least fifty metres (50m) and at most sixty metres (60m) from the vehicle carrying the explosives, with a Uniformed and Armed Police Officer, and the other behind the explosives truck and maintaining a distance of at least twenty metres (20m) and at most thirty metres (30m), with an unarmed but Uniformed Police Officer.
9. Competent persons accompanying explosives trucks shall notify the Regional Inspector of Mines in the Region upon arriving at their destinations and indicate the arrival times in a designated log book for that purpose.
10. The company shall not, unless otherwise expressly permitted by the Chief Inspector of Explosives, transport Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil (ANFQ) on a public road to a mine or civil work
site.
11. A person who drives an escort vehicle shall not drive faster than sixty (60) kilometres per hour.
12. Competent persons accompanying explosives shall be trained in the Code of Safe Working Practice (Code of Safe Operating Procedure) for transportation of Explosives along Public Roads and shall carry the code with them.
13. The Explosives Manager shall develop the Code of Safe Working Practice and the code shall be approved by an Inspector (Regulation 515 of L.I. 2182 and Regulation 11 of L.I. 2177).
14. The transportation of Ammonium Nitrate from or to the operational site of a registered mine support service company with the requisite permits or to a mine site shall be regulated by L.I. 2177.
Read the full release by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources below:
MAXAM has been slapped with a US$6 million fine over the Apiate explosion