West Akyem Municipal Assembly Organise Workshop And Registration For Miners On Responsible Community Mining.
The Minerals Commission, in collaboration with the West Akyem Municipal Assembly, has organised a day’s sensitization workshop and registration exercise for small-scale miners within the Municipality on Responsible Community Mining.
The workshop, held at Asamankese, brought together artisanal miners, traditional leaders, assembly members, and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ghana Geological Survey Authority (GGSA), to educate miners on sustainable and legal mining practices.
The exercise forms part of the nationwide rollout of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), being spearheaded by the rCOMSDEP Secretariat in collaboration with the Minerals Commission to formalise and regulate the small-scale mining sector.
Speaking at the programme, officials of the Minerals Commission explained that the initiative seeks to sanitise the small-scale mining space by organizing artisanal miners into legally recognised cooperatives to ensure accountability and environmental responsibility.
According to the officials, the registration will ensure that all artisanal mining groups are captured, with details including National Identification numbers and contact information, while selected concessions will undergo geological evaluation to determine mineral potential and economic viability.
They noted that the process would follow a four-phase workflow – field data capture, geological validation and terrain stability checks, environmental risk screening covering water use, tailings management and ore processing, and final review by rCOMSDEP and the Minerals Commission for the issuance of operating permits.
The Municipal Chief Executive for West Akyem, on his part, urged miners in the area to take advantage of the exercise and desist from illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey, which continue to degrade farmlands and water bodies in the Municipality.
He assured that the Assembly would work closely with the Minerals Commission to ensure that only responsible and licensed groups are allowed to operate, and that mining activities benefit the local communities.
Some miners who participated in the workshop commended the government and the Assembly for the initiative, saying it would give them the opportunity to mine legally and receive technical and financial support.
The registration is ongoing across the Municipality, with field teams expected to visit mining communities in the coming days to capture more miners onto the programme.
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