The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu has said a lot more needs to be done before the ban on all forms of small-scale mining can be lifted.<\/p>\n
He explained that though government has rolled out measures to clamp down on activities of illegal miners, results yielded so far in the crusade are still unsatisfactory.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”C4c3Wx4vI0lCtEE7cD540AZegRgncH0z”]There is currently a ban on small-scale mining in the country following the widespread devastation of the water resources and forest reserves due to the activities of illegal miners.<\/p>\n
A six-month ban, which was imposed by the Ministry earlier in 2017, elapsed in October 2017, but was extended to January 2018.<\/p>\n
John Peter Amewu indicated that his Ministry will continue to dialogue with the association on the possibility of lifting the ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a meeting last week with the small-scale association so we are in close contact and something good will definitely come up… We want to finalize everything and then we can make a pronouncement. There is also a ministerial committee that is working alongside my Ministry to see how we can address this…\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ghana National Association of Small-Scale miners, whose members have been largely affected, has warned of dire consequences should the ban be extended again.<\/p>\n
The Association urged the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to lift the ban on small-scale mining and rather ensure strict enforcement of the country\u2019s mining laws.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re targetted in galamsey fight\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the small-scale miners have held the view that the government\u2019s anti-galamsey fight is targetted at them, although large-scale miners are expected to be subjected to strict government supervision as well.<\/p>\n \u2018Small-scale miners stage protest\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In September 2017, some small-scale miners in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, staged a demonstration over the government\u2019s decision to extend the mining ban.<\/p>\n Despite some police arrests and firing of tear gas at the protesters, the organizers described the demonstration as successful.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu has said a lot more needs to be done before the ban on all forms of small-scale mining can be lifted. He explained that though government has rolled out measures to clamp down on activities of illegal miners, results yielded so far in the crusade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":144816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11],"tags":[11516,3,5710],"yoast_head":"\n