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The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has named some mining firms that will from henceforth have military protection.

This comes weeks after the sector Minister, Peter John Amewu, criticized the Ghana Armed Forces for deploying some of its men to protect illegal mining sites in the country.

According to the Minister, Peter John Amewu, the mining firms signed an agreement with the Ghana Chamber of Mines and the Ghana Armed Forces, adding that some of the mining firms only want their properties protected.

“…The Chamber of Mines has signed an agreement with some companies in collaborations with the military for protection of their sites. What we want to do is to let the public know that these particular mine sites have been protected. Some of them are not working; but for the purpose of protecting the properties, of course military presence will be sent to those areas just for the protection of properties,” he said in a Citi News interview.

He added that Ministerial Committee on illicit mining will soon come out with modalities for the deployment of the military personnel to the sites.

“The ministerial committee on illicit mining is coming out with modalities for deployment for a long period, not less than one year. So this is to inform Ghanaians that already there is some military protection at some sites and forces will be coming to drive away the illegal mining in some of the areas,” he added.

The Minister has taken some drastic measures, including placing a six-month ban on small scale mining activities to sanitize the industry following a massive pressure mounted on government by the media for such activities to be halted.