The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners, Mr. Godwin Armah says that there should be conscious efforts to grow the small-scale mining sector in Ghana.
In an interview with Mr. Armah, he made this statement whiles addressing the challenges of the sector and how the small-scale sector could be at power with the large-scale mining industry in Ghana.
He revealed that the small-scale sector produces 40 percent of total gold produced in the country, and so for the small scale to be empowered, government has to give them incentives like they give to the large scale-industry.
Talking about how government can help boost the operations of the small-scale mining industry, whose operations are being impeded as a result of some expertise and technology they lack, Mr Armah said proper acquisition of geological data could be one of the ways.
“The best thing we need to do is to get a proper geological data, once you have a geological data in place then you have a bankable document, you can go in for investments; that’s the difference between the large and the small scale.
“There is serious investigation into the resource to know the reserves that you have in terms of quantity of gold. Based on that, you module your mining operations along what you will be getting, and then you will be able to get your projections in to that future… how much and the type of equipment you will need and even the characteristics of the ore and the technology to recover the mineral in-depth. So that is one area government also have to look at.”
He added that government can help boost the sector’s operations by investing in equipment and also come up with a strategy like proper formalization to help mitigate the issue of illegalities adding that these are some of the things that government can put in place in terms of particulars in order to support the small-scale mining industry to be able to improve.
“A sector that is employing over 2 million people is a sector that we need to focus much attention but those things are not being done.
“The process of formalization is very important because, if people don’t go through formalization properly, …sector and government is also not making lands available for the small-scale mining sector, then you will have a lot of illegalities.”
He advised said government to look at areas of complementary income making and also issue alternative license support for the small-scale miners.
He lamented on how small-scale miners are left out of decision making and then urged the government to involve the small-scale miners in decision making.
“Every decision that is being taken, the involvement of the small-scale miners makes it more solid and robust. Most often, small-scale miners in terms of decision making are not involved.”
He revealed that the association is working with international bodies to help build the capacity of the small-scale miners to make their operations more formalized.
