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Nine months after the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources revoked the lease of a licensed mining company in Prestea-Huni Valley, the mine is now being fully operated by a group of illegal miners connected to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Led by Ebenezer Amemegakpor, alias Commander, an NDC activist in the Prestea-Huni Valley Constituency, the illegal miners took over RMG Mining Company’s Apinto concession in March 2025 after National Security stormed the underground mine.
The party’s leaders at the constituency level have justified the seizure of the concession mine operated by RMG Mining with the excuse that, before the New Patriotic Party came to power in 2016, the mine had been operated by a different company, Task Mining, but through political machinations, officials of RMG snatched the concession.
The Fourth Estate, however, found no evidence of Task Mining having the required mining lease from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, nor permits from the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency.
In October last year, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources revoked three of RMG’s small-scale mining licences, including the Apinto concession, as part of a broader enforcement exercise affecting 278 companies.
The ministry said the affected firms had failed to meet environmental and safety obligations or had continued mining after their licences expired.
However, the Minerals Commission, in an email response to The Fourth Estate on July 16, 2026, said, “The small-scale mining licence granted to RMG Mining Company Limited was terminated due to the company’s failure to submit written acceptance of the licence offer to the Hon. Minister,” in accordance with the country’s mining laws.
Free electricity
Records from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), reviewed by The Fourth Estate, show that the operators of the mine at Apinto, in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality, continue to consume huge amounts of electricity while making little effort to pay for it.
The group has run the operation for more than a year while racking up nearly GHC5 million in unpaid electricity bills as of April 2026.
In March 2026 alone, the site reportedly used more than GHC 813,000 worth of electricity.
The mine, which relies on energy-intensive underground pumping systems, has effectively become a high-cost electricity consumer operating illegally and with ostensible protection from the governing NDC.
The accumulation of debt offers a striking example of the hidden costs of Ghana’s long-running battle against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey. Beyond environmental destruction and water pollution, such operations impose direct financial burdens on state institutions, particularly when utility bills go uncollected.
The operators took over the concession after National Security personnel stormed the mine in March 2025 and drove out the licensed operator, RMG Mining Limited.
That takeover has been the subject of scrutiny for months. But the scale of electricity consumption, and the apparent inability of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to stop it, adds a new dimension to the controversy.
ECG had previously disconnected power to the mine. But electricity was later restored after intervention from Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, the Member of Parliament for Prestea-Huni Valley, who wrote to the utility provider requesting reconnection.
In his letter, the MP said National Security had tasked him with overseeing the site while a dispute over ownership was being resolved. He also assured ECG that the operators would settle all bills. But the unpaid bills continue to increase with no sign that the miners will pay.
In the earlier publication, ECG told The Fourth Estate that its staff had effectively been shut out of the area. The utility provider previously told The Fourth Estate that workers had received death threats and that the site, including the high-tension poles supplying power to the mine, had become inaccessible because armed men guarding the operation had made it a no-go zone.
Although ECG reported the matter to the police, no action appears to have been taken.
ECG aware of debt
When contacted in May, ECG’s Western Regional Public Relations Officer, Awal Boye, said the company was aware of the growing debt and was taking steps to recover what it’s owed.
The underlying dispute began when armed National Security men seized control of the mine, which was then being lawfully operated by RMG Mining Limited.
Following the seizure, RMG asked ECG to disconnect power after losing control of the site, seeking to avoid liability for electricity consumed by others. ECG initially disconnected the supply, though it said at the time this was because of RMG’s own outstanding debt, then said to be about GHC1.1 million.
It was at this point that the NDC MP for Prestea Huni-Valley, Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, wrote to ECG requesting the restoration of power. In his letter, he described the site as a community mine even though the government had at the time banned all community mining. He later denied in an interview with The Fourth Estate that his letter to ECG enabled power to be restored to the mine for illegal mining to continue.
Apinto Concession not given out to NDC Group – Mineral Commission
On May 11, 2026, The Fourth Estate wrote to the Minerals Commission, asking the mining regulator for the basis for revoking RMG’s mining lease.
When The Fourth Estate asked whether the Minerals Commission or the Lands Ministry had reallocated, transferred or granted operational rights of the Apinto concession to another company or an individual, the Commission said no in a July 16, 2020, emailed response.
When we asked if the Commission conducted any inspection or enforcement operation at the site since the revocation of RMG Mining Limited’s licence, the Commission indicated that “through its Tarkwa office [it] is currently monitoring developments in the area and will report on the same for action, where necessary.”
The Fourth Estate contacted the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in April to determine whether a new lease had been issued but received no response despite repeated follow-ups.
When The Fourth Estate contacted Ebenezer Amemegakpor, the NDC activist, he declined to speak to the issues except to say that RMG took over his uncle’s concession after the NPP administration came to power.
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