Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah
The Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) is leaving no stone unturned to fight against the application of deadly chemicals in mining.
It has also vowed to ensure that Ghanaians would be allowed to mine Ghana’s gold profitably in a socially responsible and environmentally friendly way to make mining sustainable in Ghana and Western region”.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah revealed this during the launch of this year’s “ Ghana Mining Week” in Sekondi.
it is an initiative by the WRCC and Viewtag-Ghana Gold Expo, partner of Aurum Monaco.
He said “Our fight against illegal mining, also called galamsey, must be supported by all”.
He stressed that the mining week is open to all stakeholders in the mining value chain
He said prospective participants would include companies and individuals whose areas of operation bother on Large Scale and Small Scale mining among others.
He indicated that this is an opportunity for developing countries like Ghana which have mineral deposits that come with its accompanying repercussions.
“There have been various efforts by stakeholders in curbing some of the challenges in the industry and positioning the sector as less controversial to investors”, he added.
He noted that all the Regional Ministers have been asked to join forces in the fight against galamsey.
Prof Richard Kwasi Amankwah, Vice chancellor, University of mines and Technology (UMaT) said the university is working with small scale miners to develop geological data and bankable information that will help them to do a better job on their concessions.
He said UMaT has developed technologies to help reduce mercury usage and mercury emission in the mining communities.
“We have also deployed drone technology and UMaT at the moment is the only certified place where you can learn and get a license to fly that drone”.
“We are bringing this on board to monitor the various zones to help with reclamation and monitoring of small scale mining sites”.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi