By Razak Baba
The University of Mines and Technology in collaboration with the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners with support from Environmental Protection Agency and the Minerals Commission has celebrated Sustainable Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Awareness Day in Kumasi.
The day is to create a platform for stakeholders in the Artisanal Small-scale Mining sector to interact and ensure maximum achievement of the socio-economic potentials of the industry without compromising the quality of the environment.
The small-scale mining sector employs about one million people directly and positively affects the lives of about 20% of Ghana’s population.
Governments over the years have introduced several reforms and strategies to streamline the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining sector, but it had not been successful.
A critical look at the sector shows that there are a few who obey virtually all the laws governing the activity. However, there are several others whose activities leave much to be desired.
The last five years had been challenging for the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining sector due to many reasons among which environmental destruction stand tall, with some irresponsible Small-scale and artisanal miners polluting almost all the rivers in the country by washing tailings directly in the rivers.
Despite all these challenges, the government is working hard to regulate and streamline the small-scale mining sector. Key among these is the education of the citizenry on renewed efforts towards addressing the effects of illegal mining.
It is in this regard that the University of Mines and Technology in collaboration with the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners in 2021 launched the Sustainable Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Awareness Day to be held annually on 2nd June.
The theme for this year’s celebration, held in Kumasi was, “Ensuring Responsive and Sustainable Small Mining Sector in Ghana: Our Share Responsibility”. The Vice Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology, Professor Richard Kwasi Amankwah called on the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners and the Minerals Commission to take up the challenge of reclaiming water bodies affected by illegal mining, suggesting the Pra and Birim rivers for a start.
The National Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, Mr. Godwin Amah said the, “governments’ intervention of using the military to curb the illegal mining activities in the past three decades has not achieved any substantial result”.
The Director in charge of Small Scale and Industrial Minerals at the Minerals Commission, Mr. Nelson Ahedor underscored the need for responsible small-scale mining.