Workers and traders of the Nalamtaaba Mining Enterprise in Gbani, located within the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, have made an urgent appeal to the Minerals Commission to immediately rescind its shutdown and eviction order targeting their legally recognized site.
The aggrieved small-scale mining operators and community members contend that the regulatory body’s directive threatens to dismantle a vital socio-economic backbone that has sustained hundreds of households in the region.
Having operated within established regulatory frameworks since its formal registration, the enterprise insists that forced eviction threatens peace and livelihoods across the local mining community.
“What the Minerals Commission is trying to do is to cripple the lives of these innocent people. Look at these people; this is where they engage to make a living, including traders and artisanal workers in the concession. The Minerals Commission can only regulate us to work, but not to cease the concession.”
Charles Boazor, concerned miner
The order issued by the Minerals Commission demands that Nalamtaaba Mining Enterprise halt all operational activities and immediately vacate its 25-acre concession in Gbani.
Duly registered and licensed for small-scale gold extraction since 2014, the enterprise has grown into an essential local economic hub that powers the surrounding district.
Community leaders and local stakeholders emphasize that the enterprise has consistently fulfilled its legal obligations over the past decade, making the sudden directive to relinquish their operational territory both legally dubious and socially destabilizing for the Talensi area.
The Socio-Economic Backbone of Gbani
The operational footprint of Nalamtaaba Mining Enterprise extends far beyond standard mineral extraction, serving as a comprehensive economic engine for the Upper East Region.
According to Managing Director Boyak Kolog, the enterprise currently oversees 17 active shafts and directly provides employment to over one thousand individuals.
The bustling 25-acre concession nurtures a complex micro-economy that supports auxiliary businesses, food vendors, equipment suppliers, and transport operators who rely entirely on daily mining activities to sustain their households.
Local residents emphasize that the shutdown threatens to plunge vulnerability-prone youth and families into immediate financial hardship.
Community worker Rosemary Yel-Oni noted that alternative employment options in the enclave remain severely restricted.
“If we don’t work, we can’t feed and take care of our children’s needs,” she stated, pointing out that large foreign entities like “Earl International Mining Company cannot employ all of us here,” which makes preserving local small-scale operations critical to community survival.
During recent solidarity gatherings held despite heavy rains, diverse groups including local women and schoolchildren joined miners to demonstrate how deeply integrated the company’s operations are within Gbani’s social fabric.
Tension Over Concession Rights and Local Interests
The dispute highlights growing friction between indigenous small-scale mining enterprises and regulatory decisions that favor foreign large-scale mining interests in northern Ghana.
Management representatives from Nalamtaaba argue that the Minerals Commission’s push to clear small-scale operators undermines constitutional protections designed to safeguard local participation in the extractive sector.
The directive to vacate has sparked widespread protest among workers who view the government action as an unfair dispossession of indigenous land rights in favor of external commercial entities.
Addressing journalists and local stakeholders, Deputy Public Relations Officer Raymond Yinzee expressed firm resistance to the eviction mandate.
He declared that the “Minerals Commission must stop harassing Nalamtaaba Mining Enterprise to forcefully take the concession for Chinese, because it can never be for Chinese but for the local people.”
Underscoring the community’s resolve to defend their economic rights, Yinzee reaffirmed that local miners “are going to continue to work and work and work” to secure their legitimate operations.
Regulatory Imperatives and the Need for Balanced Frameworks
The standoff in Talensi underscores an urgent national need for regulatory frameworks that harmonize industrial mining expansions with the protection of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) rights.
In regions across Ghana, small-scale mining serves as a primary defense against rural unemployment, poverty, and economic migration. When regulatory bodies issue blanket eviction notices without comprehensive transition arrangements, social stability is disrupted, and trust in institutional oversight is damaged.
To resolve such recurring conflicts, sector experts emphasize the necessity of structured dialogue, formal dispute resolution mechanisms, and inclusive land-use planning.
Regulating agencies must prioritize regulatory compliance and environmental standards while upholding the legal security of tenure granted to indigenous enterprises.
Protecting legally registered businesses like Nalamtaaba Mining Enterprise ensures that local communities remain direct beneficiaries of Ghana’s rich mineral heritage while preventing widespread economic displacement in vulnerable districts.
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