The Minister of Lands and Mineral Resources, Kwaku Asomah Kyeremeh, has announced that government has chalked an 85% success rate in the fight against illegal small scale mining also known as ‘galamsey’.
He said this at a meet the press conference in Accra on Wednesday.
Speaking in an interview on Eyewitness News, the Minister attributed the recent success in the fight against ‘galamsey’ to the efforts of the government which include the deployment of military personnel across a number of mining sites owned by large-scale mining companies as well small-scale artisanal miners.
He said despite the success, there is still a percentage of people on the ground who are still engaged in the activity.
“You know when the fight started, it was a war and as we speak today though we have a percentage on the ground that are still into illegal mining and we are still fighting, it has come down unlike when we came into power in 2017,” he said.
The fight against ‘galamsey’ has long been fought in Ghana but never won.
However, the current government stepped up its efforts at the start of April 2017, when it issued a three-week ultimatum to illegal gold miners operating in the country to either stop their activities or face prosecution.
The government also announced a six-month ban on illegal small-scale mining, arguing that this would afford it time to sanitise the industry.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
