CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study
The mining industry in Ghana, is an important sector for the socio economies of countries that have substantial gold deposits. To achieve rapid economic development, many countries resort to various activities to exploit natural resources. One of such activities is mining. Consequently, mining is an important economic activity which has the potential of contributing to the development of areas endowed with the resource. In North America, raw mineral production in 1998 was valued at approximately US$ 70 billion. The industry employs approximately 1 million people (Mbendi Profile, 2005). In Peru, the mining sector accounts for 50% of the country’s annual export earnings. During 1993, the mining industry’s contribution to the Peruvian economy was represented by $240m paid in taxes; $400m spent on local purchases; $280m in imported goods and accounted for over 11% of GDP (Acheampong, 2003). In South Africa, where gold is the largest mineral foreign income earner, gold mining alone contributes 27.4% in mineral revenues. The gold industry is also responsible for 56% of South Africa’s mine labour force (Mbendi, 2005).
In Ghana, the sector plays a vital role in the development of the economy. In 2000, minerals accounted for 38.96% of total export earnings, followed by cocoa (22.51%) and timber (9.03%) (ISSER, 2001). The mining sector now contributes 41% to the country’s foreign exchange and is the leading foreign exchange earner.
Of the $612.9 million in total mineral export income in 1997, gold, the most important mineral, accounted for $579.2 million, or 94.5%, while the remaining 5.4% came from diamonds, bauxite and manganese (ISSER, 1998).
Organisations today have realised the importance and the concept of motivation and the role it plays in achieving organisational objectives. As resources increasingly become