As part of President, Nana Akuffo-Addo’s tour to the Western Region, three community mining schemes have been launched in three constituencies to foster the creation of jobs.
The scheme is expected to create about twelve thousand jobs across the three constituencies and they are, Egila/Gwira, Akango/Duale and Aboso, in the Evalue-Gwira and Tarkwa Nsuaem constituencies.
With the job creation, the schemes are expected to create about ten thousand (10,000) jobs at Aboso and two thousand (2,000) jobs at Egila/Gwira and Akamgo/Duale.
The president at the launch explained that,
“The Community Mining Scheme is an initiative meant to encourage responsible small-scale mining, in line with the Minerals and Mining Law, 2015, Act 703, in communities across the country.”
The president addressing the issue of illegal mining said that these acts led to some environmental pollution such as the pollution of waters, the degradation of lands, the non-reclamation of degraded land, and the use of dangerous chemicals, such as mercury and cyanide, on the environment and reiterated his aim to deal with the issue of illegal mining.
“I was of the view, a view shared happily by the majority of Ghanaians, that, if we allowed it to continue, we would be jeopardising both our present and our future. Our responsibility, to this end, was clear.
“One of the measures instituted by Government to deal with the menace of galamsey is the Community Mining Scheme.”
He further went on to say that he believes the host communities and Ghanaians will help in development of the nation.
“We believe that participation by Ghanaians and or the host communities in mining will set us, as a nation, on the journey to boost the rural economy, help rural infrastructure development, and improve livelihoods, through shared wealth. More importantly, it will enable Ghanaians develop the capacity to take over, eventually, the operations of the minerals sector.”
The President aside launching the community mining schemes also cut the sod for the construction of the Abosso Tailings Project.
This project is a 1-District-1-Factory initiative, which is being established to treat and process tailings waste to produce gold doré.
The president explained that,
“The benefits of this project are both environmental and economic. The project will introduce technology and safe working practices to small to medium scale underground sites, and rehabilitate contaminated sites for agricultural purposes and developments.”
He then said he is counting on the Chiefs to help contribute to the success of these projects for the development and transformation of Abosso, adding that government’s determination to bring progress and prosperity to every part of our country is very much on course.
Yellowtail Limited, the enterprise promoting this initiative, will construct a state-of-the-art gold processing facility, within six (6) months, with a total capital outlay of some twelve million dollars ($12 million), to ensure steady production of gold doré.
On an annual basis, for five (5) years, the Project will contribute approximately US$1.35 million as royalties, and fifty-four thousand dollars (US$54,000) as small-scale mining sustainable levy to Government. Cumulatively, a total amount, in excess of eight million, seven hundred thousand dollars (US$8.7 million), will be contributed as corporate tax (CIT) over the five (5) year period.
