Mining policy under review to meet current dynamics  – Lands Minister

 The country’s mining policy is being reviewed to serve current needs, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Em­manuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has said.

According to him, the review of the policy developed in 2014 had become necessary to meet current dynamics in the mining sector.

Mr Buah who stated this when he paid a working visit to the Minerals Commission, said the objective of the government was to overhaul the mining sector to address illegal mining and challenges associated with the issuance of mining license.

The objective of the visit, which is the first visit of the Minister to an agency under his Ministry, was to acquaint himself with the operations of the Commission.

As part of the visit, the Minister was taken to the con­trol room where mining activities were monitored.

The Minister said Ghanaians had given the mandate to reset the econ­omy and the reset would start from the mining sector and the Minerals Commission.

He said the reset of the Minerals Commission was not to witch-hunt anybody but bring reforms that would help develop a vibrant mining sector.

As part of the review and overhaul of the mining sector, he said the current top to down licensing regime would change to down-to-top ap­proach where the critical stakeholders would be involved in the issuance of small-scale mining license.

He said the intention of the government was not to prevent people from mining but mine in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Mr Buah said the mining sector was crucial to the development of the country as the sector was driving the growth of the economy.

The Minister urged the staff of the Minerals Commission to support the reforms the government want to introduce in the mining sector.

“So I am excited to be here. We have an opportunity to work together to make fundamental changes to bring about efficiency and to make sure that the mining sector is well or­ganised. That people who are in the mining business do mining in a very sustainable and responsible way,” he stated.

Mr Buah stressed “Mining must be done responsibly and sustainably, and not to destroy our water bodies, forests.”

He urged the staff of the Commis­sion to act and work professionally to promote the development of the mining sector.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Martin K. Ayisi, said gold exports last year contributed $11.5 billion to the gov­ernment revenue.

The Small-scale mining sector contributed $4.6 billion, the rest is large scale.

He said the gold sector last year contributed about 56.6 per cent of government revenue, stressing that the informal sector of the mining in­dustry was important to the country.

Mr Ayisi commended the Minister for choosing the Minerals Commis­sion as the first agency to visit after assuming office.

 BY KINGSLEY ASARE