WACAM, a human rights and mining advocacy non-governmental organisation (NGO), on Thursday expressed concern about activities of Solar Mining Company at Akyem Abuakwa Juaso in the Eastern Region.
This was after numerous complaints were received from indigenous people in the area.
WACAM also condemned illegal activities of the company at the fringes of Atewa Forest Reserve, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
A statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director of WACAM, noted that its engagement with the regulatory agencies indicated that the company's illegal surface mining operations had been in existence for the past two years.
"All efforts to stop the illegal operations by the company by regulatory and security agencies had proved futile," it said.
The NGO denied the assertion by Mr Samuel Odalai Lamptey, Managing Director of the company that its operations in the area were legal.
"Mr Ransford Sekyi, Deputy Director of Mining, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has confirmed to WACAM that the company does not
have an environmental permit and was therefore, operating illegally," the statement said.
It noted that Mr Lamptey's assertion that the company's illegal operations had benefited people in the area because it had offered
employment to 500 people and provided funds for the construction of a modern palace at Osino was baseless because it was operating illegally.
Mr Owusu-Koranteng described as paltry the compensation of GH�1,000 to GH�1,200 Ghana cedis as one-off compensation for an acre of cocoa farm which could contain 450 to 600 cocoa trees to farmers whose farms were destroyed by the company.
"This translates into compensation rate of about two to three Ghana cedis for a cocoa tree which can earn a cocoa farmer at least 25 to 30 Ghana cedis per year for the economic life of cocoa of about 50 to 60 years," the statement said.
He noted that management of the company had blatantly violated the Minerals and Mining Act and reaped so much profit from its illegal
operations through the paltry compensation paid to the poor farmers in the area.
Mr. Owusu-Koranteng described as unacceptable the illegal surface mining operations in Ghana with the use of heavy machinery, poisonous chemicals and controlled by expatriates.
He appealed to regulatory bodies to bring the management of the company to book to prove their capacity on enforcing regulations to protect the environment and sovereign rights of Ghanaians.