The maiden edition of the Ghana Gold Expo 2020 is to be held in Takoradi in the Western region from March 8 to 10.It will be held under the auspices of the Western Regional Coordinating Council and Aurum Monaco partners of ViewTag Ghana.As part of preparations towards the event, the Minister Western Regional, Dr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah led a delegation to the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Benito Owusu to brief his Ministry on the upcoming Ghana Gold Expo 2020.During the visit, the Minister stated that the three-day historic event will showcase Ghana’s source of gold, its position as the first in Gold production on the continent.It will also highlight the country’s refinery capacity and government’s policy to promote responsible gold as it works to eliminate mercury in gold extraction. The convener of the expo, Steven Blessing Ackah said the Expo will serve as a platform in recognising Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Miners (ASGM) as stakeholders.It will include undertaking site-level impact assessments; community engagement and social investment priorities as already launched by the President of the Republic of Ghana, dubbed Community Mining Scheme.The director of Gold Recovery Ghana, Johan Zietsman mentioned that the event is part of a large vision to implement the Minamata Convention Guiding Principles on Mercury which Ghana signed in 2014 and ratified in 2017.The Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources commended the team for their innovative ideas and hard work, assuring that the delegation of the Ministry’s support towards the Gold Expo.He added that government’s agenda is to promote responsible gold mining as the President Nana Akufo-Addo made a commitment to the local communities to clean up and stop the environmental problems associated with illegal mining otherwise called ‘galamsey’. He believes with this government policy, both small and large scale miners will increase their capacity to enable the country to meet the 30% refined product.