Mining Minister Samuel Jinapor was in Australia when his home within the capital, Accra, caught fireplace on Saturday AEST. The minister had met with officers from Australian miner Cassius in Perth hours earlier than the blaze took maintain of the second ground of his home within the suburb of Adjiringanor.

Jinapor and the Ghanaian Minerals Fee had agreed to analyze the alleged theft of thousands and thousands of {dollars} value of gold from an Australian mine in Africa by Chinese language state-linked firm Shaanxi and query its officers over the deaths of dozens of native miners in its pits in northern Ghana.

Ghana’s Nationwide Hearth Service is investigating the reason for the hearth. The blaze gutted an upstairs bed room forsaking a path of blackened footwear, garments and a Louis Vuitton labelled purse.

In Ghana, senior political leaders, native activists and villagers have known as for the Ghanaian authorities to be held to account for the incidents, revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age investigation Blood Gold, accusing the federal government of abandoning them whereas Shaanxi had its license expanded to 50 occasions its authentic dimension. Jinapor grew to become mining minister in 2021, two years after the deadliest incident on the mine by which 16 native miners had been allegedly killed by toxic gasses to cease them from coming into the Chinese language territory.

Talensi pastor Albert Naa stated the group had obtained minimal consideration from native, regional or nationwide authorities.

“For the previous years that these incidents have been ongoing, no single compensation has been paid to anyone,” he stated. “That’s what frightens us.”

On social media, some Ghanaians steered the hearth was a response to the frustration brought on by the federal government’s mismanagement of mining communities.

Senior opposition MP James Agalga has known as for the state to take steps to prosecute Shaanxi. The Chinese language state-linked miner has denied the allegations.