Government of Ghana through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining has unveiled new policy to regularise the operations of the mining sector and subsequently lifted the 22 months ban on small-scale mining.
According to the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Frimpong Boateng, the ban is lifted for only those miners whose documents complied with the regularised and reformed framework through a vetting committee.
At the launch of the new policy on mining, Professor Boateng sternly warned that the lifting of the ban does not mean that galamseyers [illegal miners] are back to business to continue their illegal activities to destroy farm lands and water bodies.
“...the lifting of the ban does not mean that the ban on galamsey has been lifted and that they can go back to work; galamsey is still illegal. Lifting of the ban does not mean that foreign miners who are hiding in Ghana or who escaped to neighbouring countries can come and continue their illegal activities”, he warned.
“Lifting of the ban does not mean security operations to enforce compliance with mining regulations and approved practices will be discontinued. Lifting of the ban does not mean that there will be no monitoring”, he stressed.
He further explained that the lifting of the ban means only the vetted and approved miners are back to business after they have successfully gone through training; thus, the vetted miners per the lifting of the ban are to go by the new regulations regarding mining.
“The meaning of the lifting ban is that it will allow mining companies with valid company registration certificate, valid permits and licenses from the regulatory authorities [Minerals Commission, EPA, Water Resources Commission, Tax Identification Numbers, Companies who have had their mining equipments licensed and electronically tagged by DVLA and whose concessions have been vetted and given QR Code to go back to work”, he explained.
Professor Frimpong Boateng emphasised that “mining equipments especially excavators and bulldozers that have not been licensed by DVLA, tagged with electronic devices will not be permitted for small-scale mining purposes. All mining companies are expected to have at least one person trained in subsidiary mining in Tarkwa”.
He added that galamsey is now a thing of the past as all galamseyers were grouped to form community miners and duly trained to operate as legal miners after receiving their concessions to mine in approved areas under the supervision of the district sub-committee.
“So-called galamseyers have been trained and organised into community mining groups...Miners who out of ignorance might have done the wrong thing have been given the opportunity to receive proper training at University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Sustainable Framework and Operations”, he revealed.
He again said that individuals who wanted to stop mining altogether were afforded training in alternative livelihood fields; thus, there has been adequate education of miners, chiefs, and religious leaders, opinion leaders and the general population.
He therefore concluded that the list of complaint miners will be published in the electronic and print media on Monday 17th December 2018 as well as on public notice boards to announce those who qualify to continue with the mining activities.
To the successful launch of the new policy on mining indicates the political will of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sanitize, regularize and reform the small-scale mining sector
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining embarked on a program to systematically reform the sector and at the same time preserve the integrity of the environment.
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