SAMARTEX TIMBER & PLYWOOD COMPANY LTD VS AKONTA MINING SERVICES

The plaintiff is a company registered under the laws of Ghana, having as its core business sawmilling, moulding, and production of sliced veneer, rotary wood lumber and plywood for exports.

By a deed of lease dated 1st January, 2012, the Asankragwa Agona Royal Stool leased a 1112. 55-acre land situate at Samreboi to the plaintiff for industrial and residential purposes for fifty years.

The plaintiff has a sawmill, an office complex, bungalows, a golf course, an airstrip, a hospital, and schools, among other amenities on the land.

The defendant, a mining company, entered onto the disputed land on the strength of two separate mining leasehold agreements she had entered into with the Government of Ghana on 23rd July, 2021 to mine gold on the land.

According to the plaintiff, the defendant had excavated portions of her land without her consent and mounted barricades on her private roads, which she had constructed and placed security guards to man them.

The defendant had also set up a dam and a washing plant on the disputed land.

The plaintiff contends that the defendant’s activities on the land threaten the use of the airstrip and amount to a trespass of her land.

Therefore, she has sued the defendant for the following reliefs: “a. Declaration of title to the parcel of land situate at Samreboi particularly delineated and described as more or less on North by Lessor's land measuring 292. 6, 137. 4, 436. 0, 561. 2, 117. 2, and 683. 4 feet respectively more or less on the North East by Lessor's Land measuring 107. 8, 611. 5, 350. 2, 2225. 4, 165. 5, 316. 6, 419. 6, 372. 7, 790. 1 and 1134. 3 feet respectively more or less on the East by a lessor's land measuring 208. 3, 768. 1, 498. 5 and 758. 5 feet respectively more or less on the South East by lessor's land measuring 1447. 8 and 357. 3 feet respectively more or less on the South West by lessor's land measuring 1055. 6, 840. 1, 188. 5, 222. 1, 769. 2, 327. 2, 329. 2, 208. 5, 518. 6, 782. 5, 663. 0, 462. 8 and 322. 6 feet respectively more or less on the North West by lessor's land measuring 679. 9, 1648. 8, 780. 0, 391. 9, 552. 3, 661. 6, 903. 4, 451. 7. 683. 4, 1134. 4, 790. 1, 372. 7, 474. 4, 1680. 0 898. 7, 451. 7 and 1344. 4 feet respectively more or less which piece or parcel of land (sic)b. Recovery of possession c. Damages d. Cost”In response to the plaintiff's claims, the defendant explained that the land which formed the subject of the two mining agreements were contiguous to each other and cove