SGS INAUGURATES NEW LAB IN TEMA (PAGE 29)

THE Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Omane Boamah, has indicated the government’s commitment to review the Minerals and Mining Act of 2006 to ensure safer environmental practices in mining companies.
He indicated that the reviewed bill also focuses on oil spillage and other environmental abrasions.
Dr Boamah said this at the inauguration of the SGS Monitoring and Analytical Services Laboratory in Tema.
Dr Boamah said the Minerals Act of 2006, which replaced the one passed by the PNDC limited the payment of royalties to six per cent and affected the livelihood of indigenes since mining companies did not allow for commercial farming on their concessions, and that was impacting negatively on such communities.
He expressed joy at the initiative of private enterprises such as SGS, which played leadership roles by investing in the environment and quality management standards. He called on mining communities to help safeguard the environment from pollution and depletion noting “if the environment is depleted, GDP growth is meaningless”.
He appealed to private and public laboratories to co-operate with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and his ministry to streamline their operations and asked the SGS to consider establishing another laboratory in the Western Region since transporting samples from the oil fields for testing in Tema could affect productivity.
The Managing Director of the SGS, Mr Dominique Gouvernayre, said the company’s role as a leading force in inspection, verification, testing and certification services provision could not be overemphasised.
He said the success achieved by the company’s geochemical laboratory which was constructed about 20 years ago engineered the setting up of the monitoring and analytical services laboratory.
Mr Gouvernayre said since its establishment the laboratory had undergone massive transformation and metamorphosed into a first-class international laboratory equipped with modern facilities.
The drive to address the concern of our needs and meet their demands as well as management’s decision to adopt quality systems has seen them moving miles to acquire the ISO 17025-2005 accreditation in July this year, Mr Gouvernayre said.
He added that the company would in future expand its operations into other sectors of the Ghanaian economy and readily provide expertise in the areas of oil and gas as well as sustainable environmental practices.
The newly opened laboratory is for the purposes of testing metals and analysing petroleum and petrochemical products.
The laboratory also analyses environmental, food, sampling inorganic, bacteria, waste water, soil, and feed samples.