The Minerals Commission has announced it will register all illegal miners in April this year to allow for the effective monitoring of their activities.
According to the Minerals Commission, this is to also to reverse the negative impact of their activities have on the environment and the mining on communities where they operate.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0sNwi9GzglgN4W9fwZCZZ3vP2ae1lo97″]Ghana has over the years struggled to deal with unauthorised practices by small-scale miners.
As a result of their activities, water bodies are depleted, soil eroded and some tensions in communities were the illegal miners operate has led to the loss of life and property.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Dr. Tony Aubyn, stated that this registration of illegal miners will be done in collaboration with District Assemblies and other stakeholders.
“In April, we will start registering illegal miners… we will do this in collaboration with the District Assemblies and some institutions and organizations that have expertise in corporative formation so we organize them into cooperatives and then we start looking for places for them.”
Dr Aubyn also explained that the Commission has decided to reclassify small scale mining because of shortfalls in current mining regulation.
“We realised that the law in its present definition is also problematic. What we have proposed is to reclassify small scale mining, in fact small scale mining but small scale mining in particular.”
According to Dr Aubyn, the artisanal sector of mining will be maintained and small scale miners will be now monitored by the district assemblies.
He further revealed that a new category for medium scale mining will be introduced to allow for partnerships as the commission looks to engage with mining stakeholders in the various regions.
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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana