By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Government is optimistic about the prospects of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) to positively change the face of small-scale artisanal mining in the country.
Government envisages using the initiative to create more decent, lawful and sustainable jobs, particularly for the youth, empower local communities to own revenues from their gold deposits for speedy socio-economic development, and also reduce to the barest minimum the safety and security risks associated with the prevailing illegal gold mining activities, commonly known as ‘galamsey,’ which has cost many human lives in mining communities.
The Communications Director of rCOMSDEP, John Afful, made this known in an interview with Radio Ghana in Kumasi.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, launched the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) at Obuasi on 6th August this year.
It was the event that the then Minister for Defence, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, and five other state functionaries were traveling to outdoor when the national catastrophe occurred.
The rCOMSDEP, a flagship small-scale mining initiative, was a major campaign promise by the NDC and involves encouraging indigenes of mining communities to form and register cooperatives of 25 members, receive training, and acquire licenses to mine within their localities.
In an interview, the Communications Director of rCOMSDEP disclosed that government is in talks with licensed large-scale mining companies in the country, appealing to them to cede at least 25 hectares of their legal concessions each, purposely for development into group mining by indigenes of the catchment communities toward jobs and wealth creation.
Mr. Afful noted that government aims at creating about 25 cooperative mining schemes by next year and that, by the end of this year, three of them on a pilot basis would be operational in the Atwima Mponua District in Ashanti, Nkaseim in Ahafo, and Adamu in the Western Region.
“We’ve done a lot of engagement with the large scale companies, Newmont, Adamus, AngloGold Ashanti, Black Eye Cardmil and all of them. Some of them we’re still engaging them and that’s why we’re saying that next year, 25 cooperatives would be operational”, Mr. Afful noted.
He disclosed that, to ensure mutual trust, cooperation and support of all the interest groups for a successful take-off, officials of rCOMSDEP have embarked on extensive stakeholder engagements across the country.
“We’ve been to Bono, Upper East, Upper West, Savannah and Western North. We’ve been engaging the small scale miners through their chiefs and opinion leaders educating them. The good news is that, wherever we go, they receive us”, he said.
Mr. Afful expressed the hope that, by the end of 2028, through the rCOMSDEP, government would have recovered Ghana’s destroyed water bodies and lands affected by ‘galamsey’ by introducing some of the best mining practices from South Africa.
He said it is only when the programme is fully and successfully implemented that the memories of the five government functionaries who lost their lives in the military helicopter crash on the day of the national launch would have been properly honoured, and therefore appealed for all stakeholders to support the initiative.
