Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Honourable Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has announced the government’s commitment to ban all the existing community small scale mining operating licenses to end risky mining practices in the country.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, the sector minister noted that the government through Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources revoked all licenses issued since December 7th, 2024.
The ban, according to Honourable Armah-Kofi Buah was part of efforts by the government to engender sanity in the mining sector and especially tackle the illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) menace.
Flanked by the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, Honourable Armah-Kofi pointed out that the decision by government to disband all the existing operating licenses of the community small-scale mining came from recommendations from the working committee set-up by the government of Ghana.
He noted that the committee reviewed the current licensing regime and proposed recommendations and a comprehensive strategy to tackle the issue of illegal mining.
He indicated that the findings from the committee have confirmed that the existing Community Mining Schemes are in name only, although the basis for which they were founded was to benefit the community.
However, the sector minister added that the findings indicate that this is not the case hence, they are to be disbanded and replaced with Small-Scale Cooperatives that actually serve and benefit the communities.
According to him, these cooperatives will be formed after due diligence with the communities involved so they properly represent the communities.
He told the journalists that the current regime is fraught with so many problems; hence, establishing a Technical Small-Scale Mining Review Committee to review all existing small-scale licenses.
Articulating the Terms of Reference of the Technical Committee, he asserted the committee was tasked to review all small-scale mining licenses with representatives from Minerals Commission, EPA, Water Resources Commission, Forestry Commission, and the Attorney General’s office.
He indicated that the committee to be chaired by the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources – Honnourable Yusif Sulemana and to be deputized by a Director from the Ministry of Env’t Science and Technology Committee to audit all licenses to ensure they were properly acquired, that due process was followed, and that they meet all conditions of continuous validity with respect to environmental water bodies, forest reserves, and land preservation standards.
According to the Minister, they are also to ensure permitting fees have been paid in full, adding that
The committee will have two months to carry out this assignment.
“All licensees are expected to cooperate and subject their documentation to this exercise within this period.
He stressed that “All who fail to go through this process will have their licenses revoked.
Additionally, the sector asserted that both ministries (Lands & Natural Resources, and Ministry Of Environment, Science And Technology are working together to establish a new classification for the SSM regime; Small Scale, Medium Scale and Large Scale.
On the issue of the importation of excavators, Honourable Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah noted that the government has taken measures to streamline the situation.
According to him, GH 6.2 billion worth of the excavators were imported into the country last year, which ranked third in the Ghana’s import bills, saying that this amount of money is too much.
Against this backdrop, Honourable Armah-Kofi Buah called on the .Ministry of Transport and The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA)
to collaborate to control the import of excavators into the country.
He suspected that those excavators ended up in the mining sites for illegal mining activities.
For his part, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed indicated that there should be security measures to put tracking devices on the mining excavators to be able to truck them.
