Lands Ministry to ensure small scale mining remains preserve of Ghanaians
Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, on Thursday said the Ministry would continue to enforce the ban on registration of foreign companies for small scale mining.
He pointed out that the small scale mining sector was the preserve of Ghanaians and must remain so in accordance with the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
Mr Hammah said this in Accra when he took his turn at the meet-the-press series to highlight policies and the current state of implementation of programmes and projects being pursued by the Ministry.
He said, to reduce the spate of illegal mining, government was currently undertaking geological exploration of seven areas totaling 349 square kilometres in various parts of the country, and when proved viable, small scale miners would be given financial assistance to purchase equipment for the exploration of the deposits.
“…. Government has procured a polishing plant to add value to rough diamonds to increase revenue. The Ministry through its agencies will increase the number of regulatory offices in the mining areas. One of such offices has been opened at Wa to take care of mining activities in the Upper West Region and parts of the Northern Region,” The Minister said.
Mr Hammah said revamping operations of the only large scale diamond mine at Akwatia would improve production of diamonds and provide significant employment to Ghanaians and in consonance with that the company, Great Consolidated Diamonds Ghana Limited (GCDGL) planned to invest 100 million dollars in a five-year multi-phase programme.
He said the company had also developed strategies to augment government’s efforts to deal with the complex illegal mining challenge prevailing in the Akwatia area.
The Minister said: “In addition, GCDGL has plans to invest significant amounts to reclaim the over 40,000 hectares of degraded land for conversion into large tracts of farmland for commercial farming such as plantations for citrus, oil palm and cocoa, stable food crops, fish farming and agro processing for local and international markets.
“Another significant element of GCDGL work programme worth mentioning is the 50,000 jobs to be generated through these programmes”.
Mr Hammah said the Ministry would improve information availability to attract investors, reduce social conflicts in mining communities through transparency in revenue disbursement and utilisation, improve mining sector revenue collection, and implement programmes to improve performance of small scale miners to ensure that the mining sector maximises it towards sustainable development of the country.
Source: GNA