Apiate explosion: Mining sector must take lessons from unfortunate event – Gold Fields

January 20 explosion occurs at Apiate-Bogoso

Death toll of explosion hits 14, Police

Investigations into explosion ongoing

A gold mining giant, Gold Fields Limited has said the country’s mining sector can learn lessons from the unfortunate Apiate-Bogoso explosion incident that caused death and destruction.

In the afternoon of Thursday January 20, an explosion occurred along the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayamfuri road when a truck carrying mining explosives was reported to have collided with motorcycle.

The collision according to the Police caused a massive explosion in the area, resulting in deaths and destroying properties in the town of Apiate.

Reacting to the development at a media engagement on January 26, Acting Executive Vice President and Head of Gold Fields in West Africa, Joshua Mortoti said priority must first be placed on rebuilding the Apiate-Bogoso community and its people.

“We are keen to learn from the investigation report, to understand what happened and what additional steps we can take going forward. But I must assure you that the regulations that we have around transportation, storage and handling of explosives in this country are really solid. It has boded well for us for all these years. That however doesn’t mean what we have is full-proof, at least we can learn from the investigations to do better going forward. The first thing for us however is to provide relief for the people of Apiate.

“We were one of the very first people to donate tents, mattresses, food items, water and the likes to the affected people. We are also working with the government through our chamber on how the community can be rebuilt,” he added.

Meanwhile, Group Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields, Chris Griffith stressed that as investigations into the incident continues, mining companies in Ghana have the opportunity to review their safety protocols and best practices.

“Even before we know the outcome of that investigation, we [Gold Fields Limited] will be looking at our own standards, making sure we are complying with the regulations in place and making sure we do the very best we can until such a time that we get the answers. Our mining regulators have asked for space to finish their investigations to ensure the industry can collectively take remedial action to ensure such a tragedy doesn’t happen again,” Griffith said.