According to the court, the Minister, Peter Amewu, exceeded his powers by withdrawing the license of the mining company, which has affiliations with Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P).

[contextly_sidebar id=”tly8KZNhIFVX4YFE4tyQGJx3nSUbtbsZ”]Mr. Amewu, revoked the company’s leases and licenses to prospect in the Nyinahini bauxite concession of the Tano Offin Forest Reserve, describing the company’s operations there as illegal because of invalid mining leases.

But the judge, Justice Kwaku Ackah Boafo, held that the decision was not grounded in law and violated the principle of natural justice.

He added that, it was only the court which could revoke mining licenses in such circumstances.

The judge also questioned how Mr. Amewu could assume the role as an adjudicator, while he was a stakeholder in the matter.

Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who represented the state,had opposed the application describing it as incompetent in form and lacking substance.

Background

Exton Cubic after a series of threats in October 2017, filed an application for a review of the decision to revoke the company’s leases to prospect in the Tano Offin Forest Reserve.

The company had also complained that it was being targeted by the government for political reasons, due to Ibrahim Mahama’s relations with former President John Dramani Mahama.

In their suit, the company argued that the Minister’s decision was unreasonable, unjust, and an abuse of his powers.

The company, among others, sought a declaration that “the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources acted ultra vires [beyond] his statutory powers when he revoked Exton Cubic Group Limited mining leases.”

It also contended that, revoking of its license was “breach of the rules of natural Justice”, and in breach of the company’s “rights to administrative justice and property.”

The matter came to public attention when earth moving equipment and vehicles belonging to Exton Cubic’s sub-contractor, Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P), were impounded at Nyinahin, the community where the forest reserve is located.

This was on the orders of the Ashanti Regional Minister following suspicions the mining company was operating illegally.

At the time, Mr. Amewu came out to say that his Ministry had granted Exton Cubic Group Limited an entry permit into the Nyinahin bauxite concession.

Why permit was first revoked 

Mr. Amewu had explained that, the directive was issued because the company’s three mining leases were invalid.

The Minister said the company’s failure to provide key documents covering its acceptance of the lease, notice of pendency, environmental impact assessment and other statutory requirements rendered the leases invalid.

In a letter to Exton Cubic, Mr. Amewu said “the absence of publications of the Gazette of notice of the pendency of the company’s applications and service of the notice on the various entities specified in the law is contrary to both section 13(2) of Act 703 and Regulation 177 of L.I. 2176 [Minerals and Mining Regulations.]”

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By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Court quashes Amewu’s withdrawal of Exton Cubic’s license appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

EPA insists that Exton breached the agency’s requirement during the exercise.

Exton Cubic which is prospecting Bauxite in the Forest Reserve together with Ibrahim Mahama’s company; Engineers and Planners (E&P), have been in the news lately after the Ashanti Region Minister, Simon Osei Mensah confiscated vehicles and equipment belonging to E&P.

[contextly_sidebar id=”73NgRYO2lMk4QTAfnPihg8qEhn9jTMSN”]The EPA subsequently waded into the fray chastising Exton Cubic and asked it to halt operations and take steps to “obtain the necessary approvals and permits as may be required by law from the Forest Commission on Water Resources Commission and the Environment Agency or any other regulatory body.”

Defending its actions against Exton on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, the Acting Director of Public Affairs at EPA, Mrs. Angelina Mensah argued that the company failed to comply with some laid down procedures of EPA.

She explained that Exton was supposed to among other things inform EPA before entering the forest and they were also supposed to undertake a liability estimate of environment degradation in the area saying such things were not done.

According to her, the liability estimate required that Exton engages consultants and persons versed in mining to “assess the pristine nature of the forest” and also create a fund “called reclamation bond” so that if any destruction was done during the prospecting  “that money is used to remediate it.”

Mrs. Mensah said the requirement was expected to have been fulfilled within three months after obtaining the prospecting permit but the requirement was ignored.

“The condition also states that if you do not do these things within three months we have to cancel, revoke or suspend your permit. Unfortunately they did not come back to us, by the time we could say jack, they were in the Nyinahin forest entering. You needed to inform the EPA before they did that. So it’s got nothing to do with their mining but instead it’s got to do with the fact that they did not go with the legal ambit of the EPA’s environmental assessment process,” she stressed.

EPA failed to reply our letters

But the spokesperson of Exton, Sammy Gyamfi who also spoke on The Big Issue rejected the claims by the EPA.

He also insisted that they received no response from the EPA after writting several letters to them.

“We have gone through our permits; the L.I. the Acts, there is no such three months requirement. Ask them that in line with the principles of natural justice have they drawn our attention to any breaches for which we have failed to remedy. If you need information do you just go to the media and revoke permits without writing to us or giving us a permit?”

Exton Cubic to sue gov’t over seizure of equipment
Exton has further written a letter to the Attorney General expressing its intention of proceeding to court if equipment belonging to Engineers and Planners are not released to them.

“We have been instructed by our client that the seizure and detention of the said trucks has not only adversely affected our client’s business operations but has occasioned and continues to cause our client, financial loss,” the letter signed by lawyer of the Exton Group added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post EPA defends action against Exton over bauxite deal appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the company, they have acquired all the necessary documentation and permits to operate at Nyinahini.

[contextly_sidebar id=”uDfOfjiyhomZ9R6hfg5QkkJAuiXizTsn”]Some mining equipment and vehicles of a sub-contractor of Exton Cubic Group, Engineers, and planners were seized at Nynahini in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti by the police for what it called unlawful prospecting for bauxite in the Nyinahini Bauxite concession.

The communications officer of Exton Cubic Group, Sammy Gyamfi, speaking to Citi News said “we have many legal options available to us and as I speak to you, our lawyers are in a meeting considering these options and I am sure that when they are done, they will advise us as to the appropriate steps to take.”

He noted that his company has followed all due process to the letter and has “not defaulted in any way.”

“The Atwima Nwabiagya District Assembly, which is the district assembly with jurisdiction over the Tano Offin forest reserve, is in the know. The Forestry Commission copied them when it issued the forest entry permit to us. They have the documents.”

Mr. Gyamfi added that these developments could have been avoided if the Regional Minister had cross checked before ordering the seizure.

“… on record will be evidence of dealings between our company and other government agencies and he could have easily double checked with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry Environment, Science and Technology, the Forestry Commission and all these state institutions.”

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By: Anass Seidu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Exton Cubic: We may sue over Ibrahim Mahama’s seized equipment appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The company said the seizure of vehicles belonging to Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P), was done unlawfully on the instruction of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, and the District Chief Executive of the Atwima Mponua District.

“We wish to state emphatically that the said publications are false and a total misrepresentation of the actual facts of the issue. We wish to state unequivocally that Exton Cubic Group has never engaged in any illegal mining activity in Ghana,” Exton said in a statement.

Exton Cubic Group clarified that the vehicles of one of its sub-contractors, E&P, were impounded along with the “unlawful detention of our officers by the Nyinahin Police on the 20^th of August 2017.”

The mining company had engaged Engineers and Planners (E&P), a company owned by Mr. Mahama, to use its equipment to undertake a prospective service.

Operations at Nyanihin lawful

The company stressed that it had legally acquired the Nyinahini Bauxite concession as far back as August 14, 2013.

“It came to us as a surprise when without any lawful excuse, the District Chief Executive of Atwima Mponua District Assembly and the Ashanti Regional Minister caused the trucks of the subcontractor to be impounded in the center of the Nyinahin township.”

“After going through all the laid down procedures required by law, Exton Cubic Group Limited was granted a mining lease for the Nyinahin Bauxite Deposit by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on the 29^th of December 2016. This mining lease was registered at the lands commission of Ghana on the 9^th of January 2017.”

The company is yet to receive any official communication from the authorities concerned as to why our E&P’s trucks and equipment have been impounded.

Exton Cubic Group’s lawyers are in talks with police in the area over the issue “and it is our hope that the police will release the impounded trucks as soon as possible to forestall any further pecuniary losses to us.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post A/R: Minister accused of unlawful seizure of mining trucks appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.