Dr Tony Aubynn, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, is asking Ghanaians especially influential persons to stop conniving with foreign nationals to illegally exploit the nation’s resources.
He said everybody, including public officials and chiefs must do some soul-searching and finally take an uncompromising position to act in the best interest of the country.
He encouraged them to accept to work together to ensure that Ghana derives optimal benefits from its gold deposits and other natural resources.
Dr Aubynn was speaking at the inauguration of the Obuasi Gold Buyers Association at Obuasi.
[contextly_sidebar id=”HLA3GNTifqubJdjMdhjOukHa3SUU5BxL”]He noted that in 2013, small-scale mining accounted for 34 per cent (1.4 million ounces) of the total gold production in Ghana, but the “bitter truth” was that, not all that was sold through the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC).
He said the Commission would go to every length to fight this and hinted at the introduction of radical changes including a new legislation to make it mandatory for every ounce of gold produced by small-scale miners to be sold only through the PMMC.
“There would also be different licenses for those engaged in artisanal and small-scale mining as well as the creation of another level of mining – medium scale-mining, where foreigners could be brought in but only as minority shareholders,” he revealed
He said to effectively regulate the operations of small-scale miners, and to make sure that dug pits were not left uncovered, all excavators were going to be registered and fixed with tracking devices to track those being used for mining.
Mr George Abradu-Otoo, Managing Director of the PMMC, expressed discomfort with what he said was the increasing control over the internal gold trade by the Indians and the Chinese in clear breach of the law.
He insisted that the business of “buying and selling of gold” should exclusively be in the hands of Ghanaians and questioned why foreigners should determine the price of gold.
Source: GNA