DANGER...Illegal miners pose threat to energy supplies (LEAD STORY)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

ACTIVITIES of illegal miners in the Mpohor Wassa West District of the Western Region are posing grave danger to the country’s uncertain energy supplies.
The illegal miners have dug massive holes under the giant steel pylons which carry about 161,000 volts per line from Takoradi and Aboadze to the mining communities in Tarkwa and Prestea on the western corridors to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and beyond.
Authorities at the Volta River Authority (VRA) told the Daily Graphic in Takoradi that such activities, which are intense at Amanteng in the Mpohor Wassa West District, are threatening to destroy the VRA pylons, which supply power for commercial and industrial undertakings on the western corridors.
According to the experts at the VRA, the danger is that if one pylon falls, it will draw others along, which will have serious implications for the country.
The Takoradi Area Manager of the VRA, Mr Isaac Osei Nyantakyi, said if urgent steps were not taken to stop the miners now, there could be serious power cuts in the country very soon.
He noted that as a result of the rains, the grounds were soft and this could easily lead to the pylons falling, if the illegal miners continued to dig around them.
He noted that in the areas that had not yet been dug, the cyanide used in extracting the gold had settled on the base of the pylons, corroding and making them weak.
He said if the pylons were destroyed, it would not only affect commerce and industry in Tarkwa and its environs , but also power supply from the Akosombo Dam and the Aboadze Thermal plant would have to be halted for major repair works to be carried out.
This, he further stated, could result in a complete power cut nation-wide.
In addition, he said, repair works and restoration of power could take as long as six months and would cost the country billions of dollars and unreliable service as a result of breaks in transmission.
Mr Nyantakyi noted that the law did not permit even mining companies with mining rights in the country to mine along the paths of the transmission lines, which are technically referred to as “lines’ right of way”
He said another issue of concern was the danger that the operations of the illegal miners posed to workers of VRA who carried out maintenance works on the lines.
He said the abandoned pits by the miners posed a safety risk because on a number of occasions vehicles driven by the maintenance staff ran into these pits accidentally.
“Sometimes, the staff working on the lines fall into the pits,” he said.
“It is very sad and mind-boggling that these illegal miners do not care about sacrificing the supreme interest of the country because of their individual selfish interests,” the area manager lamented.
He, therefore, appealed to the authorities to take the necessary action to save the country as the voltage of electricity transmitted by the lines were very high and their destruction had enormous implications for the nation.