GHEITI opens can of worms about Small-Scale Mining

The Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), an organisation which seeks transparency and accountability in Ghana’s extractive industry, has disclosed that the Association of Small Scale Miners (ASM) in Ghana, which employs 60% of Ghana’s mining sector workforce, does not carry out corporate responsibilities and duties.

It has also disclosed that Ghana’s small-scale mining sector, which is primarily preserved for Ghanaians, is being controlled by expatriates.

In a key observation made in  the 2021/2022  GHEITI Mining ,Oil and Gas Sector Reports, which was presented at a forum in Kumasi recently, GHEITI observed that the ASM does not take development of communities under which members  operate into consideration.

“The ASM, per their operations, do not undertake corporate social responsibilities in their catchment areas.”

It has, therefore, recommended to the government to roll out measures to address this challenge.

“We are pleading with the government that in the reclamation security arrangement, applicants for licence should be made to pay an amount of money, which would be used to cover the pits, if these ASM fail to do so.”

In a social environmental study conducted by GHEITI, it reported that many pits of ASM remain uncovered after mining.

“The L.I 1652 has it that having mined in an area, the pit ought to be covered, but more often than not, the ASM members do not do this. They leave the pits uncovered after mining,” the report disclosed.

In an interview with the media, Co-chair of GHEITI, Dr Steve Manteaw, admitted that indeed Ghana’s mining sector is controlled by foreigners, a development, which he emphasised had made Ghanaian mining communities less developed.

“A lot of times, we compare our mining cities to Johannesburg and the expectation is that a place like Obuasi, after over 100 years of mining should look like Johannesburg.

“But the fact is that when you go to Johannesburg, the people mining the minerals are largely South African companies”, he said

Unfortunately, he noted, Ghana does not have a national mining company due to mismanagement.

The Co-chair of GHEITI asked the government to assist ASM in order to curb the growing domination of foreigners in the small-scale sector.

“The way in which they dig everywhere causing serious environmental degradation is not the way to go.

“We need to be able to invest in exploration activities so that we allocate areas that we know are mineralised to these small scale miners.

“The state will also have to intervene financially the reason the Chinese, Lebanese, Indians, Albanians and Burkinabe people are all getting involved, is the lack of finance for the Ghanaians.

“So they rely on these foreigners for the financing of their operations and usually, they will go into informal arrangements that requires them to sell the gold to the financiers and the financiers will usually take the gold out of the country through unapproved channels and country loses all the benefits that should have accrued to us as the resource owner.”

GHEITI, therefore, called on the state to provide access to credit for local small scale miners to finance their operations.

Touching on the breach of L.I 1652, Manteaw noted that government, through the World Bank, under the land restoration and ASM formalisation programme are working to reclaim uncovered pits.

They have also recommended that Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) should find innovative ways to be able to generate the required resources to be able to reclaim the devastated lands.

“I am aware and it is in our report that the EPA is currently in discussion with the small-scale miners about posting reclamation bond because as I indicated a while ago, the ASM people do not have the money and that is why the foreigners are getting involved and financing them. So if you ask them to post a bond, they won’t find the money, so we are recommending to the EPA about the use of insurance for restoration purpose.

Quizzed on growing calls on the government to ban small-scale mining operations in Ghana to save the forest, Steve Manteaw asked the government to fix the actual challenge and not ban small-scale mining entirely.

He did not understand why Ghanaians should be stopped from mining whilst expatriates enjoy the Ghanaian gold.

“Government should ban Small-Scale miners and allow the large scale miners to mine and take the profits to their country and we become spectators watching, as foreigners mine our gold.”

According to him, the water bodies are not in the best of shape, but that does not call for a total ban on small-scale mining.

“Of course our water bodies have been polluted, but as we speak there are also drivers on our roads, who are driving without licence, who are causing mayhem on the road. People are dying as a result of people not obeying driving rules.

Are we saying we should ban all drivers? You see, you cannot have a wholesale solution to a specific problem, so every specific problem needs a tailored resolution or strategy for dealing with it.”

Earlier, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, in a welcome address, which was read on his behalf, explained that the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative remains the global benchmark for evaluating how effective resource dependent economies harness their natural resources for development.

This initiative, Osei-Mensah noted, is grounded on the principles of transparency, accountability and citizen participation in decisions regarding resource governance, including the allocation of revenues.

Mr Osei-Mensah indicated that Ghana is abundantly endowed with natural resources, adding that the thriving mining, oil and gas sectors have grown significantly in recent years, serving as a key pillar in the nation’s economic growth and development.

These sectors, according to him, contribute immensely to our economy and Ghana with its attractive mineral resource base has successfully drawn significant investment in these industries.

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