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Who Scared RandGold; AGA, ASM or GOG?

When News broke out that fateful Monday, Randgold was pulling out of the merger with crippling AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine the whole city went dead since most young graduates who were expectant of getting new roles with Randgold in and around Obuasi were disappointed and cursed whoever that caused this show down.

Randgold was just about sealing all deals until the unexpected happened which led to their exit. That meant the economically dead Obuasi which have been predicted to resurrect any sooner will now be a day dream until another investor comes knocking.

Randgold according to its Chief Executive Officer, Mark Bristow, planned to make the Obuasi Mine into a world-class one.

Now, did Randgold pull out of the deal just as they stated in their press statement or there was more to that?

“After undertaking a due diligence exercise into the mine,Randgold has determined that the development will not satisfy its internal investment requirements, the miner said on Monday.

“Accordingly, Randgold has decided to terminate the agreement entered into with AngloGold Ashanti, with immediate effect”

Who is to blame?

What kind of nightmare caused Randgold to run away before job seekers said jack?

Anglo Gold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine.

I believe the Sustainability, Social Services and the Cooperate Affairs departments did their best to make the Mine attractive for investors.

Did AngloGold Ashanti hide something from Rand Gold that they later found out or they just lost interest because they might run at a loss.

Mr. Srinivasan Venkatakrisnan, AngloGold Ashanti’s Chief Executive Officer, confessed Obuasi is too large and expensive for the miner to put back into production by itself.

If the CEO for the Ghanaian mining giants said this, that means they eere really ready for a partnership and still ready for one.

Probably,Randgold believes AngloGold did not do much interms of controlling aggrieved residents who the Mine owed compensations and other legal benefits.

 

Artisan Small Scale Miners

Executives and members of the Artisan Small Scale Miners (ASM) staged two massive demonstrations first calling on the Municipal Chief Executive and latter the President of the Republic to help the Mine release its old concessions for them to operate.

Thses two demonstrations attracted not less than 2,500 demonstrators and the media coverage given to these sold it to the world markert.

As at the time of these massive demonstrations,the team from Rand gold were in Obuasi still going about their normal feasibility studies.

Can we then say,these two massive demonstrations that got National and International attention scared Rand Gold who would’ve thought the security of their future company was not 100 percent assured?

Our investors might have seen members of the ASM as a threat to their operations.

Government of Ghana

All this while, the Government of Ghana was and still silent on how such a lucrative investment was whisked away in just a day.

Information gathered by Obuasitoday.com reveals some officials in government killed the interest in Rand gold. Government’s silence on these impasse is still questionable.

 

 

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