The Association of Small Scale Miners will meet today [Friday] over government’s decision to extend the ban on small-scale mining.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu announced the extension at an awards ceremony by the Bureau of Research, Governance, Commerce and Administration, saying the move had become necessary after small-scale miners failed to meet the target set for them to have it reviewed.
The Director of Operations for the Association of Small Scale Miners, Emmanuel Yirenkyi explained in an interview with Citi News that the executives of the body will deliberate on government’s decision and proffer remedies at Friday’s meeting.
“The National Executives are going to meet on the statement and we will look at it critically and we are also going to consider the various engagements we have had with the government and activities we have done together as stakeholders and then come out clearly to respond,” he said.
“We are going to consider the level of trust between the government and John Peter Amewu. We need to consider the dimensions of all these and what could have necessitated that particular statement from the Minister.”
Talks over mining ban
The announcement of the extension of the ban comes weeks after the Minister had indicated that his outfit was holding talks with the Small Scale Miners Association on the possibility of lifting the ban.
Mr. Amewu stated that lot more needed to be done before the ban can be lifted.
He said though government had rolled out measures to clamp down on activities of illegal miners, results yielded so far in the crusade were still unsatisfactory.
The Ghana National Association of Small-Scale miners, whose members have been largely affected, had warned of dire consequences should the ban be extended again.
The Association urged the Ministry to lift the ban and rather ensure strict enforcement of the country’s mining laws.
‘Small-scale miners stage protest’
In September 2017, some small-scale miners in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, staged a demonstration against the ban,
Despite some police arrests and firing of tear gas at the protesters, the organizers described the demonstration as successful.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana