A Ghanaian official said on Thursday that the government is in the process of amending its mineral and mining law to create a medium-scale mining sector as one of the solutions to illegal mining in the country.
Yusif Sulemana, deputy minister of lands and natural resources, said during the 11th West and Central Africa Mining Summit and Expo in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, that the government considers mining as a key sector in the country’s economy and that it needs to be developed and harnessed for current and future benefits.
“The intention of the government is to introduce medium-scale mining so that we are able to close the gap between the large mining companies and the small-scale miners,” Sulemana said.
According to the deputy minister, the medium-scale sector will be allowed to use limited machinery in mining and will be regulated to mine responsibly. Moreover, large-scale mining companies will be tasked with mentoring medium-scale miners and training them in responsible mining methods, enabling them to transition to large-scale mining gradually.
He said the intention is to retrain and graduate those using large equipment in small-scale mining into medium-scale mining with limited use of machinery.
Sulemana also said the government intends to formalize small-scale mining, restricting it to operations using artisanal tools and prohibiting it from taking place in forest reserves, water bodies, and dry lands.
Both medium-scale and small-scale mining will be open to only locals, and foreign mining investors are restricted to large-scale mining, according to the deputy minister.
“The mining sector contributes significantly in terms of job creation and revenue mobilization,” he said. “So, the government intends to ensure that there is an enabling environment for large-scale mining companies in the country and also bring in more investments into the sector.”
Source: newsghana.com.gh
