President John Dramani Mahama has revealed a key directive issued to the taskforce arrange by the Forestry Fee as a part of renewed efforts to fight illegal mining, domestically often called galamsey.
He acknowledged that he has instructed the workforce to halt the burning of excavators seized from unlawful miners and as an alternative confiscate them.
His directive follows public outrage after the anti-galamsey taskforce set fireplace to 4 excavators throughout an operation at Obuohu Fante within the Ayensuano District of the Japanese Area.
Talking at a gathering with members of the Christian Council on the Jubilee Home on twenty first February, President Mahama underscored the devastating influence of galamsey and reaffirmed his administration’s dedication to tackling the menace.
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Now we have about 280 forest reserves on this nation, and roughly 43 of them have been affected by unlawful mining. We not too long ago carried out an operation within the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, the place we efficiently eliminated excavators and different tools. Now, the workforce is shifting its focus to a different extremely affected space.
I’ve instructed them to not burn the excavators however to confiscate them. We even have a cellular response workforce in place in order that if unlawful miners try and return and the 42 personnel on the bottom are overwhelmed, they will name for reinforcements.
President Mahama additional outlined plans to have interaction small-scale miners in adopting accountable mining practices by the introduction of latest applied sciences to guard water our bodies.
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We’re planning a convention with small-scale miners to discover sustainable mining strategies. In different nations the place small-scale mining is well-regulated, miners are required to create a leach pad earlier than beginning operations.
The location is lined with plastic to forestall air pollution, making certain that the water used to scrub gold-bearing ore is contained reasonably than contaminating rivers.
He additionally inspired the Christian Council to play an energetic position in governance and pledged to respect dissenting opinions in nationwide discourse.
