Identifying the Sources, Causes and Costs of Conflicts in the Prestea Mining Community

Abstract

Some communities around the world have been considerably transformed by the mining industry but same cannot be said about Prestea community. Notwithstanding, about a century of mining, Prestea is still a deprived community. There is protracted community-level conflicts in the face of contemporary international standards and growing expectations for the mining industry to convert the rhetoric of corporate social responsibility into actual practice. There have been instances when land use and environmental impact issues have culminated in violent conflicts between the extractive entities and the community, with the mines losing the social licence to operate. The loss of social licence comes with costs to the company and the community. This paper attempts to identify the sources, causes and cost of conflicts in Prestea. The paper argues that land use and environmental impact are the major sources and causes of conflicts coming with huge cost to the company and the community.