Martin Kwaku Ayisi, CEO of Minerals Commission has stated the introduction of the “Community Mining Scheme” is an answer to illegal mining activities (galamsey) that is destroying water bodies in the nation.
The CEO of the minerals commission stated that the scheme was a great program put together by the government through the ministry and the minerals commission as one of the several solutions to addressing the illegal mining menace; adding that the ministry had the duty to explain to the general public about what this whole thing was about.
Essentially, he claimed that with community mining, the key component was that the ministry wanted to encourage persons living in the community to do it responsibly. “There is no specific license called community mining because everything you do must be situated in the law and so with community mining, what we give them is a small-scale license. So, community mining is nothing like a small-scale operation,” he opined.
“We have a framework and we have the health and city regulations. We developed what we call an operational manual that was developed as far back as September 2021 by the minerals commission. We call it small scale and mining community operational manual. Essentially the operational manual contains everything that you need to do like the dos and don’ts at the site including all the equipment’s you must have.
“So, the first thing is that you must have an office or camp or you must have a place where you operate from. You must have all the sanitary stuff on site, with ways of disposing of garbage. You must have clean running water on site. All these things are contained in the manual and the district inspector of mines and minerals commission will have to make sure that you have all these things in place before he releases the information to us.”
Martin Kwaku Ayisi
Martin Kwaku Ayisi stated that after all of these are conducted, then he would communicate with the minster so they could get a date for the launch, inform the chiefs, the DCE and the assembly.
For example, he said that a new site to be commissioned at Moseaso-Abransie at Obuasi was at first a place used by illegal miners. However, he claimed that the District officer after chancing on them stopped them and later informed them of a way to become legal, and act responsible, since the site was not close to any waterbodies.
He added that any community mining scheme that had not been launched by the Minister or the Deputy on the recommendation of the minerals commission was illegal and was not recognized. He said that the commission wanted to replicate this across all the 16 regions to help formalize illegal mining.
License Not Issued To Foreigners
Martin Kwaku Ayisi also stated that the commission did not issue license to foreigners, except Ghanaian adults.
Moreover, he specified that one of the qualifications that enabled a Ghanaian obtain a license was based on a site that was not close to any ecologically sensitive area, or any waterbody. This license moreover, could be issued to individuals and group of people. “So, an individual can apply for an individual license but only a group of people can apply for a community license,” he said.
“To monitor their movements, their machines that they will be using will be fitted with a tracking device which will be connected to our control room at the minerals commission, 24 hours. So, when you move the excavator outside the concession, it will shut it down. So, in the Moseaso area for example, the Obuasi office of the minerals commission is responsible.
“They are supposed to go there twice a week and make sure that the place doesn’t deteriorate. And they will be filing reports monthly because the site has to maintained. We don’t want a situation where after a week or two, the place becomes a very dirty looking place.”
Martin Kwaku Ayisi
On the use of explosives on sites, CEO of the minerals commission claimed that the scheme allowed those with licenses to use explosives. However, this was only premised on the fact that they received permission from the Inspector of mines, who in turn, monitors the movement of the explosives and its usage.
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