President Akufo-Addo has said his government will not relent in the fight against the galamsey menace in the country.

He said the government will continue to fight illegal mining popularly called ‘galamsey’ with the support of the security agencies.

President Akufo-Addo said the government is determined to promote responsible small-scale mining through Community Mining Schemes.

The president also acknowledged that the use of the “Gold Katcha” machines in the country has greatly promoted responsible mining.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Wednesday, March 8, President Akufo-Addo said, “Mr Speaker, we continue the fight against galamsey with the support of the security agencies, in the short-term.

“However, we are determined to promote responsible small-scale mining through Community Mining Schemes.”

 “So far, 16 of these schemes have been commissioned, with three more to be commissioned by the end of this year. All these schemes are supported with Gold Katchas…”

Gold Katchas are pieces of equipment designed to help small-scale miners to extract gold from the ore without the use of mercury.

The mercury-free mining equipment efficiently recovers more gold for artisanal and small-scale miners in Ghana without using any chemicals like mercury and without polluting river bodies.

The objective of the roll-out of the Gold Katcha is to assist small and large-scale miners with efficient mining plants and equipment that achieve three basic goals and these are high tonnes per hour processing, mercury-free recovery and high gold recovery.

On Monday 6 June 2022, President Akufo-Addo commissioned 100 Mercury-Free Mineral Processing Plants (Gold Kacha) for artisanal and small-scale miners in the country.

Commodity Monitor, an extractive solutions provider introduced the new mercury-free machine into the Ghanaian mining sector.