Talk:Ashanti Goldfields Corporation

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An Italian, Bortolo Marinoni from Rovetta near Bergamo, deserves some credit for the success of the main mine at Obuasi. He was an adventurer who had travelled the world, doing as much exploring as possible on foot for no other reason other than that of a desire to travel and see what he could at a minimum of expense to himself for he was poor. Sometime at the beginning of the 20th Century - according to a grandson it may have been 1902 - he landed in Ghana. The same grandson believes Bortolo worked with a group of Italians for a few months in one of the gold mines that were run by the British Government at Obuasi until the vein of gold-bearing quartz ran out due to an intrusion of vertical rocks. He asked the management of the mine to give him some explosives, and at his own cost he hired some locals and a few of the Italians, and proceeded to excavate. For some reason, he was convinced the vein that had been abandoned by the British would be found on the other side of the geological fault. With great difficulty, and many sacrifices, and to the astonishment of the managers, he did find a new vein on the other side of the fault and it was a much richer one.

Bortolo was given a Contract by the British. It was for running the mine’s underground works for “the length of his life and for his descendents’ lives.” Suddenly, Bortolo Marinoni was a very important man. He proceeded to work very hard as his earnings were based on the ratio between tons of gold-bearing rock being excavated and the wages to be paid out for man-power. Over the next four decades the Marinonis became wealthy. Bortolo had several sons and they took turns to work in Africa. Especially in the first twenty years, life in Obuasi was very difficult for Europeans who struggled to cope with the heat, humidity and diseases of the area. The outbreak of war meant the brothers who were in Obuasi at the time became prisoners of war. When the war ended, a family feud split them and one brother, Giovanni, who had spent his war in Italy, was left almost destitute. Thanks to the Mackinnon Road Project near Mombasa in Kenya, he was able to begin a new life in Kenya with his family. I have no information as to how his brothers fared after the war. My user name on Wikipedia is not my real name. Lina Carmen (talk) 20:53, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Goldman Sachs allegations[edit]

GhanaWeb has provided some allegations that are making the rounds: that Goldman Sachs was behind the failure of Ashanti Gold, and it's forced acquisition by AngloGold. Is there any basis proving or disproving these claims? Any legal proceedings?

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=180487

Article summary:

Goldman Sachs, as the financial advisor of Ashanti, suggests that gold will only go lower, and recommends that Ashanti buy big hedges against the decline of gold in August 1999
Goldman then talks to 16 banks, in September 1999, who work together to set a floor to gold's price.
Ashanti suffers huge financial damage due to it's wrong-way bet, and is eventually sold to AngloGold.

I suspect that this fiasco is due to Goldman looking out for it's interests first with the 16 banks: the destruction of Ashanti being mere collateral damage. (I bet that not all of Goldman Sachs are talking with each other, every day - or even every month.)

Still, Goldman Sachs has a reputation for playing 'conflict of interest' games: the current SEC court case against Goldman is partly grounded in similar issues. Ld80061 (talk) 04:38, 29 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]