Accra: Dr Steve Manteaw, Co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), has encouraged small-scale miners to operate more responsibly to gain government’s recognition and support. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a stakeholder forum in Accra on Thursday, he emphasised the importance of small-scale miners giving back to their host communities to mitigate the environmental and social impact of their activities.
According to Ghana News Agency, Dr Manteaw noted that the sector contributed significantly to domestic production, however, the miners contributed less than one per cent to domestic revenue mobilisation, as they ‘often do not pay royalties, corporate income tax,’ and other fiscal commitments. Dr Manteaw, therefore, recommended that small-scale miners ‘must do more’ to make the sector attractive, which would enable the government to ‘prioritise’ more land releases for their activities.
The forum was convened by the Ghana National Associati
on of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM), in collaboration with TrustAfrica, a Pan African foundation focused on strengthening democracy and democratic governance. It sought to discuss the coexistence between Large Scale Mining (LSM) and Artisanal Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) within mining communities. Issues of concern to participants included land inaccessibility for ASGM operators, unfulfilled land release commitments, land use conflict, reclamation and post-mining land use, and the health impacts of mining.
Dr Manteaw highlighted sections of Ghana’s Mineral and Mining Policy, which comprised commitments to support small scale miners with geological information, technology, and access to credit, and called for the revision of the Minerals and Mining Act to ensure inclusion and operationalisation of the policy commitments. On illegal mining or galamsey, he argued that banning all small-scale miners, together with those who complied with the regulations, would not be a viable solution.
Addressing the issue of n
on-payment of royalties by the artisanal small-scale mining sector, Mr Godwin Armah, the General Secretary of GNASSM and Board Member of GoldBod, said some small-scale miners were already contributing significantly to the development of their host communities in the form of school buildings and water provision among other projects. He said coexistence with large-scale mining companies would need a proper framework that involved all relevant stakeholders beyond the government to work together to achieve a sustainable solution.
The forum highlighted strategies such as strengthening legal frameworks for Artisanal Small-scale Gold Mining formalisation, and the implementation of zoning policies to reduce conflicts as some recommendations for sustainable coexistence between large scale and artisanal small-scale gold miners. The rest are the provision of extension services and technical support, formation of cooperatives and associations, and adopting cleaner technologies to improve the quality of activities and en
sure environmental protection.