The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, which is currently in the Central Region for the mapping of concessions owned by small-scale miners as part of the vetting process, have discovered that there are about 700 ghost mining concessions across the country.
According to the Committee, out of the 1,350 small-scale mining licences that had been issued to the miners nationwide, only 650 of them reported when the committee members moved to the field to map and ascertain whether indeed the 1,350 concessions exist.
“To our surprise only 650 small-scale miners reported when we went to the field for the mapping of the concessions which means that there are about 700 ghost concessions in the mining areas across Ghana,” the committee pointed out.
They continued “it means that either people have mined them up and taken the gold out of the country without paying anything to the state or someone was negligent in issuing out the licences.”
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Mining has been tasked to vet the registered small-scale miners across the country in a bid to regularize their operations before making recommendations to President Akufo-Addo to lift the ban on small-scale mining.
This was after the committee, chaired by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, held a press briefing to unveil the roadmap towards the lifting of the ban.
Charles Onuawonto Bissue, Presidential Staffer & Secretary to the Inter–Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, in interview with DAILY GUIDE, mentioned that following the approval of the roadmap towards lifting of the ban on small-scale mining by Cabinet, the President directed the committee to outline details of the roadmap to the general public.
“So we started the vetting process on September 23, 2018 which included receiving the 1,350 small-scale mining licences that are in existence”
“After that the team had to go on the field to map or ascertain those licences to ensure that those concessions exist because that had been the problem,” he indicated.
He told DAILY GUIDE that the Minerals Commission had issued licences, which do not correspond with the concessions on the field.
“So we were expecting 1,350 small-scale mining concessions on the field but only 650 of the miners had reported,” he pointed out.
He indicated that the committee would resort to the use of drones to monitor illegal mining activities in the country.
Mr. Bissue added that the drone pilots had been trained, adding “the military personnel fighting illegal mining would receive their drones next week.”
The Ban
Following the widespread destruction of water resources and forest reserves as a result of the activities of illegal miners, government, in January 2017, placed a ban on small-scale mining for six months.
The ban was, however, extended in October 2017 for another three months, which ended in January 2018, but it still remains in force.
The committee, therefore, issued a statement setting out a comprehensive roadmap.
Operation Vanguard
Operation Vanguard, the security taskforce put together by government to fight small-scale miners, said it had chalked successes in its operations so far.
The anti-galamsey taskforce was deployed to three regions- Ashanti, Western and Eastern- to help sustain the fight against illegal mining.
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