The Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Ben Aryee said the policy of the government is to develop the small scale mining industry to become as efficient as its large scale counterparts and the industry will become truly indigenous and self reliant with most of its needs been serviced by local companies. Mr. Ben made the statement at a workshop organised to develop a framework for artisanal and small scale mining in Wa. The objective of the workshop is to create a platform for stakeholders to share experiences and develop a comprehensive framework for the artisanal and small scale mining in the country. It is also to identify challenges of the artisanal and small scale mining subsector and suggest workable solutions to address the challenges. The Chief Executive Officer of the minerals commission Ben Aryee said despite the steady growth in the industry over recent years; it is still bedevilled with significant challenges. Mr. Aryee pencilled the lack of viable areas for such activities which usually leads to haphazard mining and encroachment on concessions of large scale mines, amongst others. Another challenge according to him is the lack of financial support from financial institutions like the Commercial Banks. These challenges, he said, lead to the miners using unsustainable mining methods to exploit gold and not observing environmental regulations which invariably lead to environmental degradation, deforestation, air and water pollution and siltation of rivers amongst others. ‘‘It is in line with this policy that the government, with support from development partners, is implementing the National Resources and Environmental Governance (NREG) Programme with one major objective of reducing if not eliminate these negative impacts’’. ‘‘As we invest our time and resources to address challenges facing the sub-sector, it will be irresponsible for any of us to condone illegal small scale mining or galamsey in whatever form’’, he added. The manager of sectoral policy and planning at the minerals commission, Richard Kofi Afenu posited that activity of illegal small scale mining can be equated to activities of Fulani herdsmen who graze their cattle on people’s farms thereby destroying them. Mr. Afenu said although in the past, military interventions such as operation gong-gong were carried out to drive away these herdsmen, just as military interventions have been and continued to be used to flush out illegal miners, the problem still exist. He said it is based on these reasons that a more sustainable measure needs to be adopted to address especially illegal mining activities in the country once and for all. The Municipal Chief Executive for Wa, Duogu Yakubu called on Azuma Resources Limited who had been given licence to prospect for gold in the some parts of the Upper West region to work hand in hand with the chiefs and people to prevent problems that have occurred elsewhere in the country.