The Minister of Lands and Natural resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor says government is reviewing the strategy on fighting small scale mining in the country.
According to him, government is set to have a national consultative discussion to come out with a roadmap on tackling issues of illegal mining.
Speaking to the media during his working visit to the Ashanti region, he noted that government will not countenance any form of illegal mining.
He added that his outfit is working to eliminate or reduce incidences of illegal mining in the country.
The minister said while waiting for the new blueprint to be developed, government is seeking to promote community mining in various mining areas as a viable alternative to illegal small scale mining.
“The way forward is that, we are insisting that mining should be done in a regulated faction, so there is no space for illegal mining. I have told the Minerals Commission and we are all agreeable to that. As much as possible, we have to either eliminate or reduce the incidences of illegal small scale mining. We can do small scale mining in a regulated licenced environment. We will not countenance any form of illegal small scale mining. We’ve had a strategy in place in the first term of President Akufo-Addo. We are reviewing it. We are going to have a national consultative discussion and out of which, we will have a blueprint. But for the time being, the attitude and the strategy is to promote community mining, frown upon illegal small scale mining and flush those out. The point I am making is that, we need broad-based support”.
As part of the Minister’s tour, he visited the Anglogold Ashanti Obuasi Mine and later met small scale miners within Obuasi.
In separate meetings, he assured the two parties of the ministry’s efforts in resolving disagreements between them with respect to concessions.
The Minister also inspected some community mining sites and urged them to strictly stick to environmentally friendly practices.