Obuasi
Obuasi | |
---|---|
Mining Town & Municipality Capital | |
Nickname(s): Sikakrom, Gold Town | |
Motto: Unity in Development | |
Location of Obuasi within City-state Ashanti | |
Coordinates: 06°12′00″N 01°41′00″W / 6.20000°N 1.68333°W | |
City-state | Ashanti |
Municipality | Obuasi Municipal |
Government | |
• Type | Absolute monarchy |
• Body | Manhyia Palace Obuasi Municipal |
• Emperor Asantehene | Osei Tutu II |
Elevation | 331 ft (101 m) |
Population (2012) | |
• Total | 175,043[2] |
• Ethnicity | Ashanti people |
• Nationality | Ashanti |
Demonym(s) | Ashanti Obuasian |
Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time |
• Summer (DST) | GMT |
Obuasi is a Mining Community and town in the southern part of Obuasi Municipal of the Ashanti Region of Ghana.[3] Obuasi is the capital of the Obuasi Municipal which lies south of Ashanti capital city Kumasi 39 miles (59.4 kilometres) away south-west of Kumasi or 1 hour 2 minutes road-drive from Obuasi to Kumasi.[3] Obuasi has a settlement population of 175,043 people.[2] Obuasi gold bar mining community has delicate mosaic from the Ashanti people culture of Ashanti and the semi-island exclave Ashantiland.[3] Obuasi wears a ring of hills as its adornment and Obuasi sits quietly albeit industriously on the soil that births the top-9 single richest bullion gold bar gold mining mining|mine on Earth the Obuasi Gold Mine.[1][3]
Gold Coast region was named after the vast amount of bullion gold bars found in Obuasi and Ashanti.[3]
Economy
Obuasi is known for its Obuasi Gold Mine, now one of the nine largest on Earth with bullion gold bars having been mined on the site since at least the seventeenth century.[1]
Gus Casely-Hayford states the mine now extends 1,600 below ground, produces 2 million tons of ore per year, and pours one gold bar or ingot every day from its furnaces.[4]
Transportation
Train and air
Obuasi train station is on the Ashanti railway line to and from Kumasi (39 miles or 59.4 kilometres or 1 hour 2 minutes south-west of Kumasi) and Obuasi also has an airstrip and airport.[5]
Tourist attractions
Tourists can visit the town's mine by arranging with the Public Relations Directorate of Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC).[3] Operated by the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC), formerly the State-owned Ashanti company Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC), it was the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC) company's largest mine until the AGC company merged in 2004 to create the Earth's second-largest gold producer, Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA) with the merging of the South African company AngloGold.[3]
Education
Obuasi is the site of the Obuasi Senior High Technical School a mixed-sex educational second cycle public high school.[6] Christ the King Catholic Senior High School, St. Margaret Senior High School, and the College of Integrated Health Care. Obuasi is the site for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)-Obuasi Campus.
Climate
Obuasi has a semi-equatorial climate with two rainy seasons and a mean annual rainfall between 125mm and 175mm. The average annual temperature in Obuasi is 26.5 °C with highs of 30 °C and lows of 23 °C. Relative humidity is around 75% – 80% in the wet season. Summers in Obuasi are wet, while the winters months tend to be dry. The climate around Obuasi is Aw Tropical savanna climate in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Obuasi's yearly precipitation averages 1,450 mm.
Climate data for Obuasi | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 32 (89) |
31 (87) |
31 (87) |
31 (87) |
32 (89) |
29 (84) |
27 (80) |
27 (80) |
26 (79) |
30 (86) |
32 (89) |
32 (89) |
30 (86) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 24 (75) |
24 (76) |
24 (76) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
24 (75) |
23 (73) |
22 (71) |
21 (70) |
24 (75) |
24 (76) |
24 (76) |
23 (74) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 25 (1.0) |
25 (1.0) |
76 (3.0) |
130 (5.0) |
200 (8.0) |
230 (9.0) |
100 (4.0) |
25 (1.0) |
76 (3.0) |
150 (6.0) |
130 (5.0) |
100 (4.0) |
1,300 (50) |
Source: Myweather2.com[7] |
Healthcare
Obuasi is also noted for its healthcare facilities, such as the AGA Hospital owned by the Anglo Gold corporation, and also for a private health facility, St. Jude Hospital, owned by Dr George Owusu-Asiedu.[8] The facility is noted for many successful surgeries and numerous successful births at the maternity division of the hospital.[8]
Golfing and stadium
Obuasi has a golf course,[9] and the Obuasi Ashanti Gold Sporting Club, a professional football club, is based at Obuasi's Len Clay Stadium.[10]
Notable people
Notable people from Obuasi mining town include Sam E. Jonah (KBE) the former CEO of Ashanti Goldfields Company,[11] Jonathan Mensah, Yaw Boakye Yiadom,[12] and John Mensah.[10]
Sister cities
As of 13 September 2008, Obuasi has been a sister city of Riverside, California, USA.[13]
Sovereign state | City | State | Date | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Riverside | California | 2008 | [13] |
See also
References
- ^ a b c "World's top 10 gold deposits". 7 August 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ a b "World Gazetteer online". World-gazetteer.com.
- ^ a b c d e f g "An Economic History of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation" (PDF) (PDF). Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ Casely-Hayford, Gus (2012). The Lost Kingdoms of Africa. Croydon: Bantam Press. pp. 256–258. ISBN 9780593068144.
- ^ "Business: AngloGold Ashanti Opens Obuasi Airport". 4 September 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ "Obuasi Sec-Tech old students support alma mater". Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ "Obuasi Weather Averages". Myweather2. 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine" (PDF) (PDF). May 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ "Obuasi Golf Course Photos". Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Ashanti Gold Sporting Club". Retrieved 5 August 2015. Cite error: The named reference "Interview with John Mensah" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Directors: Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, KBE, OSG, Executive Chairman". Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
- ^ "Yaw Boakye Yiadom". 15 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
- ^ a b "Riverside's Sister Cities". City of Riverside, California. 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2009.