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Pre-Study Tour Objectives *Understand the relationship between the government and mining companies. Does the government play a small or large role in the mining industry? What is the level of government regulation? Is it effective or simply a burden? How much bureaucracy is there? *I have read a myriad of opinions on the gold industry and want to attain the capability to discern truth from exaggeration. For example, before embarking on the Study Tour, I read an article from "National Geographic" criticizing the industry for its atrocious human rights violations. Conversely, the consultant company Business for Social Responsibility argues that CSR has made great strides. I hope to examine empirical data and draw my own conclusions about the prevalence of CSR. *Study the role of the Chinese in the extractives industry and their relationship with the Ghanaian government. *Assess the repercussions- from job losses to environmental damage- on the community after a mining company leaves. *What is the definition of corporate social responsibility? *Who should be held accountable for the environmental and health damage? And more importantly, what is the solution?
Business for Social Responsibility
National Geographic, "The Real Price of Gold"
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Post-Study Tour Reflection In short, the majority of my study tour objectives were met via the meetings held with officials. Yet I found the further I delved and the more information unearthed, the more questions arose. For instance, I entered Ghana interested in the health and environmental repercussions of mining, and had the opportunity to interview government, NGO and mining company representatives. But instead of my question being answered, each group presented a different perspective and I was faced with the task of discerning truth from embellishments. This raised the question: what is reality and what are groups saying to advance their own agendas? Additionally, all three of these groups cited the Environmental Protection Agency, posing several other questions: how legitimate is this organization? Who are the major stakeholders? On another note, the study tour endowed me with interviewing skills. I learned to ask open-ended questions in order to ensure I received honest responses, instead of ones framed by my own preconceived notions. I realized that I should connect with the interviewed subject on the basic level that we are both human, and I simply want to extend my knowledge. Questions should be asked in a manner that conveys I value their opinion, and I must remained openminded and not simply hear, but also process their response. I also acquired another unexpected insight: that problems are interconnected and solutions often are contingent upon solving another issue first. For instance, examine the polemic topic of small-scale mining. This industry wreaks environmental damage and may employ up to 500,000 people. A superficial solution would focus on penalizing the small-scale miners. But a deeper examination of the problem reveals that allegedly miners resort to this profession because of the scarce job market in Ghana. So perhaps the appropriate solution involves addressing the limited employment opportunities. Finally, I came to an explanation for my interest in Africa. For the past several years I struggled to understand where this passion derives from, and the answer finally manifested itself due to my experience travelling in Ghana, readings of scholarly texts, and interactions with certain actors. I realized three factors drove me: 1) Simple moral values my parents enshrined in me. For example, the fact that 1.4 million children die from diarrhea annually when this issue can be solved through better sanitation and water supply is a disgrace to international community and morally unacceptable. 2) Enlightened self-interest: We should investment in the stability of other nations in order to ensure our future security. For example, the anarchy of North African states acts a breeding ground for extremism. 3) Africa is a land of opportunity because it illustrates the capacity of humanity to right wrongs. Consider Ghana, initially a failed state that suffered five coups, and now is undergoing democratic elections with stable party transitions.
Ghana Environmental Protection Agency
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Spring Colloquium Objectives *Strengthen my academic understanding through literature, theory, and the array of speakers. *Learn about the hedging and understand the reasoning behind AGA's hedging decision. *Why has the government not hired an impartial group of scientists to measure the health and environmental impact of mining to verify or discredit claims of communities and companies? *Further dissect the relationship between companies, communities and the government (both the central government and the local administrative apparatus). How do these interests intersect? *Assess the concrete benefits of mining on the national economy including the exact amount of taxes and royalties paid to the government. *Examine the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Post-Colloquium Reflection I have made significant progress in meeting my learning objectives both from the lectures and my research for the documentary. Yet I have come to the conclusion that my objectives will be met on at a higher degree as I move through my college career. As my intellectual capacity increases and I return to Africa, I believe I will find answers to my study questions on a more complex level. Nonetheless, the colloquium provided a forum to examine the mining law in depth and see with my own eyes that companies pay royalties between 3-6%. I also perused AGA's corporate social responsibility policy on its website and examined its annual financial report. I prefer to base my research on empirical data, and AGA's annual reports gave me the opportunity to examine concrete numbers. In theory, Ghana has a 10% import duty on mining equipement, a 3% royalty and a 10% tax "for other reasons." However, AGA lobbied parliament to eliminate the import duty and reduce the ambiguous 10% tax to 5%. In other countries that AGA operates in I noticed that AGA also successfully negotiated with the government so that it was exempt from most, if not all, taxes. Here I came to the conclusion that although AGA is not breaking the law, Ghana and other resource rich countries ultimately are not benefiting as they should be. The BBC article "Africa Loses Out on Mining Cash" that Professor Kutsoati sent us compounded this belief. This article states that Ghana is losing $68 million annually in the gold mining industry due to its low royalties.
"Africa Loses Out on Mining Cash"
This article from Professor Kutsoati helped me better understand that the World Bank engineered the Mining Law to benefit foreign investors as opposed to the Ghanaians.
Republic of Ghana, Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703)
AngloGold Ashanti: Financial Statements 2008
AngloGold Ashanti: Report to Society 2008
Highlights from AGA's Annual Report
AGA's 'Financial Statements' and 'Report to Society' are difficult to sort through due to their sheer length. Therefore, I created a word document with two charts from the reports that I found particularly pertinent. The first chart illustrates Ghana's economic performance compared to other countries AGA operates in. The second chart illustrates the taxes and royalties businesses should pay be law, and the rates that AGA actually pays.
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