A mine worker walks inside the Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, Ahafo North Mine as commercial gold production begins, in Afrisipakrom community in the Ahafo Region, Ghana. October 29, 2025
Workers in Ghana’s mining sector face shrinking wages and weakening job protections as the government pushes major international mining companies to hand over core operations to local contractors, the country’s main mineworkers’ union has warned.
Abdul Moomin Gbana, president of the union representing about 14,000 workers, told reporters on Friday that local contractors typically pay lower wages and offer less job security than the foreign firms they are replacing — and that the policy will ultimately hurt the very workers it purports to benefit.
“The growing reliance on contract mining is reversing hard-won labour protections,” Gbana said, adding that the changes would have a “huge impact on workers.”
Ghana, Africa’s top gold producer, introduced rules in January 2025 requiring surface mining to be carried out exclusively by fully Ghanaian-owned firms, while underground mining must be handled by companies with at least 50% local ownership. Major operators — including Newmont, Zijin and AngloGold Ashanti — have been ordered to fully transfer blasting, loading, hauling and dumping activities to local contractors by December 2026, or face sanctions. The reforms are part of a broader government push to deepen local participation in the country’s extractive sector.
But the union says workers are already bearing the cost of the transition. A staff member at a local contractor told reporters that contractor workers typically earn around 50% less in basic pay than employees directly hired by mine operators. Gbana added that even where staffing levels are maintained, wages and benefits would fall, eroding gains secured over years of collective bargaining. Some workers have already raised concerns over unpaid statutory deductions, including pensions and provident funds.
Gbana singled out several established local contractors — E&P, Rabotec, BCM, Electrochem and Rocksure — as having failed to meet workers’ expectations. Rocksure pushed back, with its head of human resources, Nina Lamptey, saying the company is up to date with salaries, pension payments and statutory obligations to the state, and pays strictly according to its contract terms. E&P, Rabotec, BCM and Electrochem did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The union vowed to mount stiff resistance to the policy, including possible strikes and protests, and has petitioned both the mining regulator and the lands ministry. In a letter seen by Reuters on Friday, the group issued a pointed warning to authorities: “Any attempt to proceed with this policy in its current form will be met with strong, coordinated and sustained resistance.”
Gbana noted that the union was not consulted during the drafting of the current regulation, accusing authorities of sidelining labour concerns. He pointed to a precedent that haunts the union: between 2017 and 2018, workers failed to stop Gold Fields’ voluntary shift from owner mining to contract mining — including through a court challenge — which he said opened the door for more companies to follow suit.
The union’s opposition adds to a chorus of criticism from mining executives, who have called the policy anti-business and unlawful, arguing it conflicts with Ghana’s mining law, which grants leaseholders the authority to determine how mining is conducted.
The Minerals Commission acknowledged the concerns, with Chief Executive Isaac Tandoh saying the agency plans to tighten oversight of contractors to prevent the kind of undercutting that drives down wages and operating standards. He cited cases where mining costs paid to local contractors had fallen from $3 per ton to below $2.50, leaving workers worse off. The commission, he said, would use regulations to set clearer pricing benchmarks and support local firms through guidance and joint ventures. Tandoh added that “unions were right to push for the welfare of workers” — a concession that will do little to ease tensions as the December 2026 deadline draws closer.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah