The government, through the Minerals Commission, has demarcated 13 blocked-out areas across the country to be allocated to Ghanaians interested in small-scale mining.

The blocked-out areas, which will be well studied before allocations are made, form part of renewed efforts to promote responsible mining and eradicate illegal mining activities for the benefit of the country's environment and its people.

The initial 13 designated areas, which have been carefully defined for geological study, are expected to provide viable and legally secured concessions for licensed small-scale miners.

Speculative digging

The move is also intended to ensure that illegal miners do not enter water bodies, forest reserves or lands of any shape or size to carry out speculative digging and destroy the environment.

Speaking in an interview, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission in charge of Small-Scale Mining and Industrial Minerals, Mr Maxwell Yao Akpene Klu, said the initiative was aimed at addressing one of the root causes of illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.

The government, he said, was doing a lot and could report considerable progress, as the fact remained that the alternative to illegal mining was legal mining.

“The lack of resource-rich blocked-out areas has given room to many of these people to dig anywhere, degrade the environment and place all of us at risk through the unstructured approach.”

Act 703 and the drones

For years, many illegal miners have encroached on large-scale mining concessions, forest reserves and water bodies due to the absence of designated, geologically studied and mapped-out mining zones, he said.

The provision of these initial 13 areas is intended to address the challenge after they are parcelled and assigned to qualified miners who have gone through the process.

Under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), prospecting licence holders are required to relinquish part of their concessions as exploration progresses or advances.

“I must say that, under the leadership of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, and the CEO of the Minerals Commission, Mr Isaac Tandoh, discussions have gone well and some are complying, which would be an addition to the blocked-out areas.”

“The idea is to move from chaotic and dangerous mining practices to more structured and sustainable mining. Therefore, any miner or group that gets the space knows exactly what is there and how to mine sustainably.”

The three drones

Under the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP), the Minerals Commission acquired three Hybrid Multi-Rotor Drones fitted with Geomagnetic MagArrow magnetometers for aeromagnetic surveys.

This, he said, would enable the Commission to have an idea of the richness of the areas and make it easier for the miners to mine sustainably.

“The old practice where miners enter restricted areas such as forest reserves and water bodies must not continue. As a Commission, we have plans to move them. NAIMOS, EPA, Forestry Commission and Water Resources Commission are all doing their jobs to ensure an acceptable end to this menace that has bedevilled our country,” he said.

“Working collaboratively, it is our hope that, at the end of the day, we come up with a comprehensive plan that, when these blocked-out areas are explored or geologically investigated, we can bring the people to come and mine safely. However, at present, illegal mining activities are still prohibited.”

Regulatory recommendations

“Again, we are in collaboration with major stakeholders such as the GoldBod, UMaT, Ghana Geological Survey and MDF, coming on board, picking some of the blocked-out areas to explore in readiness for the major transformation of the sector.”

He said by the time that process ended, there would be a lot of spaces for those interested in small-scale mining to mine, adding, “We will explore the right measures to get it done in the interest of all stakeholders, and we know that the solution to illegal mining is legal mining.”

Mr Klu explained that, unlike the random mining sites where many were digging illegally, the well-investigated 13 blocked-out areas were away from restricted zones, such as water bodies and protected forests, to ensure that mining activities did not compromise the environment, degrade forest reserves, threaten any national installation or affect health and human settlements.

Responsible mining practices

The miners, he said, who went through the process and acquired licences to operate in these zones would be required to adhere strictly to responsible mining practices, including proper environmental management, land reclamation and safety standards, and work with communities to obtain social licences.

The Deputy CEO said the rCOMSDEP, which is the government's flagship programme, brought prospective miners to legally acquire licences to operate and be community-based, with local stakeholders playing a lead role. He said the rCOMSDEP would also benefit from some portions of the 13 blocked-out areas.

The stakeholders, he said, believed the initiative would bring significant benefits to the sector by eradicating the galamsey menace through providing prospective miners with legal and accessible alternatives, making illegal mining in rivers, forests or unapproved areas unattractive.

The well-structured small-scale mining sector, he said, had the potential to create thousands of direct jobs for young people in mining communities, provide communal benefits and ensure that the country's mineral wealth benefited Ghanaians, especially host communities.

LI 2404 implementation and excavators

He said that, under the leadership of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, and the CEO of the Minerals Commission, Mr Isaac Tandoh, “We have tracked 2,056 earth-moving machines and mining equipment. In collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, the equipment is monitored to know their location, and if it is being used for other purposes, the equipment can be clamped.”

The earth-moving and mining equipment imported for mining purposes are geofenced and restricted to work within their concession areas, he explained.

“We already have a backlog of equipment in the system, and any new equipment that enters the country must be tracked at the port of entry. It has become one of the major measures ensuring that the deployment of this equipment is for a specific purpose,” he said.

Some small-scale miners spoken to about the new move by the Commission commended the Commission and welcomed the initiative, describing it as timely. They have, however, called for a transparent and fair allocation process to ensure that the areas reach genuine small-scale miners and not speculators.

Some other players have described the development as a major step towards sanitising the country's small-scale mining sector and ensuring that mining is done responsibly for the benefit of both the people and the environment.