The government, through the Minerals Commission, has demarcated 13 blocked-out areas across the country to be allocated to Ghanaians interested in small-scale mining.
The blocked-out areas, which will be well studied before allocations are made, are part of renewed efforts to promote responsible mining and eradicate illegal mining activities for the country’s environmental health and its people.
The initial 13 designated areas, which have been carefully defined to be geologically studied, are expected to provide viable and legally secured concessions for licensed small-scale miners.
Speculative digging
The move also ensures that illegal miners do not enter water bodies, forest reserves or lands of any shape or size to carry out speculative digging and destroy the environment.
Speaking in an interview, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission in charge of Small-Scale Mining and Industrial Minerals, Mr Maxwell Yao Akpene Klu, said the initiative is aimed at addressing one of the root causes of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.
The government, he said, is doing a lot and can report considerable progress, as the fact still remains that the alternative to illegal mining is legal mining, saying, “The lack of resource-rich blocked-out areas has given room to many of these people to dig anywhere, degrade the environment and place all of us at risk through the unstructured approach.”
Act 703 & the drones
For years, many illegal miners have illegally encroached on large-scale mining concessions, forest reserves and water bodies due to the absence of designated, geologically studied and mapped-out mining zones, he said.
The provision of these initial 13 areas is intended to mark the end of the challenge after they are parcelled and assigned to qualified miners who have gone through the process.
Under the Minerals and Mining Act 703, Prospecting Licenses are required to relinquish part of their concessions as exploration progresses or advances “I must say that, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah and the CEO of the Minerals Commission, Mr Isaac Tandoh,discussions have gone well and some are complying, which would be an addition to the blocked-out areas.”
“The idea is to move from chaotic and dangerous mining practices to more structured and sustainable mining. Therefore, any miner or group that gets the space knows exactly what is there and how to mine sustainably.
The three drones
Under the Ghana Landscape Restoration Small Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP), Minerals Commission acquired three Hybrid Multi Rotor Drones fitted with Geomagnetic magarrow magnetometer for aeromagnetic surveys.
This, he said, would enable the Commission to have an idea of the richness of the areas and make it easy for the miners to go and mine sustainably.
“The old practice where miners enter restricted areas such as forest reserves and water bodies must not continue. As a Commission, we have plans to move them. NAIMOS, EPA, Forestry Commission, Water Resources Commission are all doing their jobs to ensure an acceptable end to this menace that has bedevilled our country,” he said.
“Working collaboratively, it is our hope that, at the end of the day, we come up with a comprehensive plan that, when these blocked-out areas are explored or geologically investigated, we can bring the people to come and mine safely. However, at present, illegal mining activities are still prohibited.”
Regulatory recommendation
“Again, we are in collaboration with major stakeholders such as the GoldBod, UMaT, Ghana Geological Survey and MDF, coming on board, picking some of the blocked-out areas to explore in readiness for the major transformation of the sector.”
He said by the time that process ends, there would be a lot of spaces for those interested in small-scale mining to mine, and “we will explore the right measures to get it done for the interest of all stakeholders, and we know that the solution to illegal mining is legal mining.”
Mr Klu explained that, unlike the random mining sites where many are digging illegally, the well-investigated 13 blocked-out areas are away from restricted zones, such as water bodies and protected forests, to ensure that mining activities do not compromise the environment, degrade forest reserves, threaten any national installation or affect health and human settlements.
Responsible mining practices
The miners, he said, who go through the process and acquire licences to operate in these zones will be required to adhere strictly to responsible mining practices, including proper environmental management, land reclamation and safety standards, and work with communities to obtain social licences.
The deputy CEO said the rCOMSDEP, which is the government’s flagship programme, brings prospective miners to legally acquire license to operate and be community based with the local stakeholders playing a lead role and the rCOMSDEP will also benefit from some portions of the 13 blocked out areas.
The stakeholders, he said, believe the initiative will bring significant benefits to the sector by eradicating the galamsey menace by giving prospective miners legal and accessible alternatives that would ensure that sneaking to mine illegally in rivers, forests or unapproved areas is unattractive.
The well-structured small-scale mining sector, he said, has high potential to create thousands of direct jobs for youth in mining communities, provide communal benefits and ensure that the country’s mineral wealth benefits Ghanaians, especially host communities.
LI 2404 implementation and excavators
He said again under the leadership of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah and the CEO of the Minerals Commission, Mr Isaac Tandoh “We have tracked 2,056 earth-moving machines and mining equipment, and the essence, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, theequipment is
monitored to know their location, and if it is being used for other purposes, the equipment can be clamped.”
The earth moving and mining equipment imported for mining purposes are geofenced and restricted to work within their concession area, he explained.
“We already have a backlog of equipment in the system, and any new equipment that enters the country must be tracked at the port of entry. It has become one of the major measures ensuring that the deployment of this equipment is for a specific purpose,” he said.
Some small-scale miners spoken to about the new move by the Commission commended the Commission and welcomed the move, describing it as timely. They have, however, called for a transparent and fair allocation process to ensure that the areas reach genuine small-scale miners and not speculators.
Some other players have seen this development as a major step towards sanitising the country’s small-scale mining sector and ensuring that mining is done responsibly for the benefit of both the people and the environment.
