Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has denied assertions suggesting that President Akufo-Addo is against small scale mining in the country.
According to the Minister, the president and his government are committed to promoting sanitized and regulated mining in the country to provide jobs for the people.
He however adds that, government will not allow illegal mining activities which destroy water bodies and negatively impact the environment to continue.
He therefore called on Ghanaians to support government’s efforts in nipping illegal mining (galamsey) in the bud so that the environment especially water bodies are not needlessly destroyed thereby affecting water supply in the country.
He spoke to the media as part of the inspection of lands, water bodies and water works in the central and western regions by the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry in conjunction with the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry.
In a related development, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Commission, Tony Aubyn, has advocated for the redefinition of small-scale mining in the county to help sanitise the sector.
According to Mr Aubyn, the current definition of small scale mining leaves gaps that can be exploited for illegal mining.
“We need to come up with the real definition of small-scale mining, it only talks about who is qualified to do it, what is the size of land required to do that and the fact that you must not be a foreigner and all that, “ he stated in an interview.
“We need to also recategorize it to ensure that there is a mid-tier, if you have a group that are brought together that constitute another band, you can control them better than the way it is done haphazardly, everyone is somewhere and all that,” he added.
