Anglogold Ashanti, which is due to release annual results tomorrow, told representatives of mining-affected communities in Colombia that it had little choice but to use contracts with the Colombian army to provide security at its operations. It said it operated within the rules that applied in every country where it had mining activities and that using military security was part of that system in Colombia.AngloGold Ashanti, which is the largest gold mining company operating in Colombia (to date it has undertaken only exploratory work), met with the Colombians and representatives of several global church-based organisations in Johannesburg this week to discuss the concerns of the affected communities.The use of security contracts in rural areas where the military has a controversial history was one of those concerns.story_article_left1There were also concerns about the lack of transparency and lack of engagement with communities.One member of the delegation that met with AngloGold Ashanti said the company claimed to have regular meetings with affected communities but that none of the representatives of more than 150 community organisations knew of these meetings or had attended them.The meeting between the Colombians and AngloGold Ashanti was held just a week after violence flared up at the company's Obuasi mine in Ghana, resulting in the death of one of its top executives, John Owusu, communications director at AngloGold Ashanti.The company called for Ghana's military to return to the mine, which had been overrun by illegal miners following the withdrawal of military personnel on February 2.The company said this week that due to safety concerns it withdrew employees performing nonessential functions from Obuasi last week.It urged the Ghanaian government to protect the area and said the army had an agreement with the Chamber of Mines, on behalf of mining companies, to deploy soldiers at mining operations. The illegal activity followed AngloGold Ashanti's decision to fire workers and suspend underground mining activity at the end of 2014 because of increasing costs and a slump in the gold price.Researchers aligned with the Bench Marks Foundation, a community-based NGO, said the history of gold extraction in Ghana was similar to that of Colombia where for centuries small-scale artisanal miners had been making a living off rich gold reserves.The Colombian community representatives have been in South Africa to attend the Alternative Mining Indaba earlier this month and to visit gold mining "hot spots" in Gauteng."What we saw around Klerksdorp, Soweto and Witbank was land destroyed by tailings dams, serious health issues and terrible water pollution as a result of mining. We saw what will happen to our country after decades of mining and how it displaces people," said Erik Norman of the Colombia-based ActAlliance.Chris Nthite, a spokesman for AngloGold Ashanti, pointed out that the Colombian delegation did not visit any of its South African mining operations. "We operate a suite of modern mining assets compliant with relevant laws and regulations."He said the mining operations were an integral part of the local economies, investing in local development and have ongoing rehabilitation projects.story_article_right2Johana Rocha of Colombia-based Tierra Digna said large-scale gold mining was set to commence once a peace agreement had been signed between the Colombian government and FARC, the largest left-wing rebel group in the country.The two groups began formal peace talks, aimed at ending five decades of armed conflict, in November 2012. They have set a deadline of end-March this year to sign a final document.The prolonged conflict resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the internal displacement of millions of people.Rocha was concerned that once the land was opened up for large-scale mining there would be limited opportunity for the small-scale agriculture that provided a livelihood for rural communities. She was also concerned that displaced people who should be able to return to their homes after the peace settlement would be unable to because of the mining activity.Nthite said AngloGold Ashanti, which has been in Colombia for more than a decade but does not yet have any producing mines there, was committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure they benefited from mining activity. He said there would be a follow-up meeting next week in Colombia to continue discussions relating to concerns about transparency of environmental studies, security arrangements and the breadth of the company's community engagements...