The Minerals Commission has given the indication of addressing challenges facing the Ghana Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM) to make the latter a vibrant, tax identifiable and able to contribute more meaningfully to national development.
The Chief Executive Officer, Addae Antei-Bediako, who revealed this, said the process will help GNASSM contribute meaningfully to the development of the state.
Speaking at a meeting the Commission held with small scale members in Kumasi recently, Antei-Bediako said GNASSM contributes 40% of total gold production in the country, and that they hold the future to gold mining in the country, and must, therefore, be supported.
According to him, the recent absence of GNASSM from the gold production chain created a vacuum. This, according to him, shows that they play key roles in the sector.
Addae Antwi-Bosiako further told the media that the community mining framework allowed for the establishment of the district mining committees, and that representatives of small scale mining are part of the committee.
The Board Chairman of the Minerals Commission, Mr. Sampson Kwaku Boafo, agreed that small scale miners are an integral part of the community mining project, and that they could not be excluded from it.
According to him, it is against the law for anyone to take out small scale miners from community mining, adding that small scale mining complements the community mining programme. “So how can someone exclude them [Small Scale] from the community mining programme? Are you directing them to go into galamsey,” he asked.
Mr. Boafo contended that small scale miners are not illegal miners as was being claimed in some quarters, but rather the real miners who are doing diligent work backed by the law.
“They are very essential in the development of mining in Ghana, and their productions are quite significant. They also have [a] task force who are helping to curb illegal mining in water bodies in Ghana. They are genuine legal miners,” he said.
Touting the relevance of small scale mining in the Ghanaian economy, Mr. Sampson Kwaku Boafo, who chaired the meeting, indicated that small scale mining industry is the reason why Ghana has surpassed South Africa in gold production in Africa. “They have produced more gold, and this has seen Ghana being the leading gold producing country in Africa. Ghana has taken over from South Africa in gold production,” he said.
This feat, Kwaku Boafo continued, has seen Ghana appreciating on the table in world ranking, emphasising that with the right technology, we can beat the other countries. The General Secretary for GNASSM, Mr. Razak Abdul Alhassan, on his part said the community mining concept was conceived by his outfit, and that there was a reason for that.
According to him, galamsey and its rippling effects have been on the lips of Ghanaians, so they decided to bring this idea to help address illegal mining in Ghana.
Abdul Alhassan appealed to the government to pay special attention to mining to help recruit many more people into the sector. “We are ready to work with government to make the mining industry one of the best industries in Ghana, as well as the whole world. We want to be pacesetters in mining industry, where people will travel from other nations to come and learn from us,” he said.
The post Minerals Commission promises to address challenges facing small scale miners appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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