PROTECT FOREST RESERVES; KEEP MINING COMPANIES OUT OF GHANA

PROTECT FOREST RESERVES; KEEP MINING COMPANIES OUT OF GHANA

A coalition of 13 Ghanaian organizations need a global outpouring of
citizen support for forest reserve protection. Our collective voices
have triumphed over corporate heavyweights before, and we can do it
again! Please respond to this urgent request for international
solidarity from the people of Ghana who have already suffered too much
from irresponsible mining.

The Ghanaian coalition that opposes mining in the forest reserves is
working with villagers on a variety of projects for sustainable economic
development as an alternative to mining. They charge that five mining
companies, including industry giant Newmont, got away with illegal
mineral explorations in the forest reserves under the former
administration. Now the companies say Ghana's reputation as a good place
for foreign investment depends on whether the new administration will
bend or change the law to allow them to mine inside the reserves.

The communities are demanding compensation and clean-up while mining
companies continue to heavily press the Ghanaian government to permit
mining in the country's protected forest reserves.

Community activists and international human rights advocates denounce
the pattern of abuse by mining companies which includes burning of
villages, illegal detention, rape, intimidation, and dog attacks on
villagers.

Modern gold mining creates tailings and waste water laced with heavy
metals and toxic chemicals like cyanide and arsenic. In recent years,
disastrous cyanide spills have killed all life in several of Ghana's
river systems and marshlands, contaminating the drinking water and
agricultural lands of thousands of villagers. Scientists fear the
cyanide and heavy-metal residue could pose a threat to the people and
wildlife in these areas for decades to come.

Supported by the Minerals Commission, the Chamber of Mines and even the
Environmental Protection Agency, the mining companies are bombarding the
public with pro-mining propaganda and promises of material aid.

TAKE ACTION!

Support the coalition of Ghanaian organizations and communities by
urging government officials to keep Ghana's forest reserves off-limits
to mining.

Please write polite letters to Ghanaian government officials and to the
CEO of Newmont (one of five mining companies that is pressuring Ghana to
open the forest reserves to mining).

ADDRESSES IN GHANA:

His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor
President, Republic of Ghana
P.O. Box 1627
Castle-Osu
Accra, Ghana (US postage: 80 cents)
FAX: +233-21-663044 or 660246

Mrs. Cecilia Bannerman
Minister of Mines
P.O. Box T40
Accra, Ghana (US postage: 80 cents)
FAX: +233-21-666801

* Tell them you support a coalition of Ghanaian organizations that
opposes
opening Ghana's forest reserves to mining.

* Congratulate them for ratifying the Convention on Biological
Diversity
and establishing protected areas.

* Urge them to maintain Ghana's laws that prohibit mining in forest
reserves in order to protect globally significant biological diversity,
conserve freshwater resources, and prevent toxic contamination of water
and of
agricultural lands.

* Ask them to open a national discussion on the issue of mining in the
forest reserves, because Ghanaian citizens and NGOs should participate
in a
decision that affects the country's greatest natural resource and the
welfare of future generations.

ADDRESS OF NEWMONT MINING CORPORATION:

Wayne W. Murdy, CEO
Newmont Mining Corporation
1700 Lincoln Street
Denver, Colorado
USA 80203
FAX: 1+303-837-6100

* Tell him you support a coalition of Ghanaian organizations that
opposes
opening Ghana's forest reserves to mining.

* Tell him Newmont should not pressure the Ghanaian government to
change
its laws to permit mining in forest reserves. Newmont should honor
Ghana's
ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and respect
Ghana's
protected areas.

* Urge him to cancel Newmont's gold mining project in the Ntronang
forest
reserve.

SOURCE: Action Alert #3/03, Global Response

This Global Response Action was issued at the request of, and with
information provided by, the Wassa Association of Communities Affected
by
Mining (WACAM), Ghana. For more info, see: www.wacam.org ;
www.moles.org;
www.minesandcommunities.org/Charter/londondec.htm;
www.mineralpolicy.org; www.oxfamamerica.org;
http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2003/2003-03-04-02.asp
www.newmont.com; www.biodiv.org/ http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/ghtoc.html