FOREIGNERS TAKE OVER GALAMSEY (BACK PAGE)

Foreign nationals have virtually taken over illegal mining in the country, a research conducted by the Ghana Chamber of Mines has revealed.
The research established that 95 per cent of the foreigners, including Chinese, Togolese, Malians and Burkinabes, do not have licences to operate the illegal business, otherwise known as galamsey, but have expressed the willingness to register if allowed to do so.
The findings of the research were presented by Dr Toni Aubynn, leader of the research team, at a validation and sensitisation workshop at Tarkwa in the Western Region.
In response to the findings, the Ghana Chamber of Mines has initiated an advocacy programme to encourage the artisanal small-scale miners to formalise their businesses and operations.
That is because the chamber has identified the benefits of artisanal small-scale mining to the local communities and the country, in the area of employment generation and the provision of means of livelihood to people.
The research indicated that in 2008 alone, the artisanal small-scale mining sector produced 425,000 ounces of gold and generated a total revenue of US$340 million.
Additionally, the sector employed between 100,000 and 300,000 people with the annual income per a miner estimated at $1,700.
Dr Aubynn said the study indicated that people were motivated to go into artisanal small-scale mining due to poverty and unemployment.
He explained that between 40,000 and 60,000 people were believed to be directly engaged in artisanal small-scale mining in the study areas including Wassa Akropong, Damang, Bogoso and Obuasi.
Dr Aubynn said the research indicated that males dominated the artisanal small-scale mining operators, comprising about 95 per cent who were in their youthful to middle ages.
He said only about 15-20 per cent of them were believed to be indigenes of their operational areas, while most of them, about 60 per cent, had some basic elementary education with about 25 per cent who had had education up to secondary school.
The study, he said, showed that some of the operators from Bogoso, Prestea and Obuasi were former employees of large-scale mining companies who had been laid off.
Again, he explained that in the Obuasi and Prestea-Hemang areas, the reduction in mine workforce over the years had aggravated the situation.
He mentioned lack of arable lands due to mining, the need to fulfil family responsibilities, expectation of quick returns and continuation of traditional trade bequeathed by families as some of the motivating factors.
On the way forward, Dr Aubynn urged the government and local authorities to strengthen, review and enforce the laws on artisanal small-scale mining in the country.
He also called on them to strengthen and resource mining institutions, establish an artisanal small-scale mining fund, among others.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, noted that artisanal mining had been a vocation in the country since pre-colonial times.
However, she said it was after the promulgation of the Minerals and Mining Law, PNDCL 153, that the Small-Scale Mining Law PNDCL 218 was enacted to cater for mining on a small scale.
Ms Aryee pointed out that PNDCL 218 was a bold attempt to formalise small-scale mining in the country.
She added that the subsequent growth of the mining sector was accompanied by an unprecedented growth in unlicensed small-scale mining, which is an illegal activity.
She emphasised that while small-scale mining had proven to have a great employment potential, its informal nature did not make it possible for the state to benefit optimally from the endeavour.