In 2006, IFC signed a loan of $75 million for its own account and mobilized an additional $50 million in syndicated loans for Newmont Mining for the construction and operation of a gold mine in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. IFC is helping deliver benefits to the local community and raising the mine’s social and environmental standards.
IFC is developing a program to maximize the local development impact of the project, helping create demand for goods and services that previously did not exist in nearby towns.
IFC is also collaborating with Newmont to develop and implement an HIV/AIDS and malaria program and initiatives to ensure that local women entrepreneurs also reap stronger benefits from the mine. In collaboration with IFC, Newmont has also created a bio-diversity management system to manage the mine’s potential impact on the surrounding environment.
To address the concerns of people displaced by the mine’s construction, IFC worked very closely with Newmont to accelerate the process of replacing the land of displaced farmers, ensure that local communities have enough food, and to restore livelihoods.
IFC has also deployed substantial resources, including a Ghanaian social specialist dedicated full-time to the project, to closely advise the company on how best to proceed with direct compensation to people who have either lost farmland or been forced to move.
For more information contact:
Houtan Bassiri
Communications Officer
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27-11-731-3179
Email: hbassiri@ifc.org
