The Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Mr Martin Kwaku Ayisi has said that small-scale mining in Ghana is open to only Ghanaians.
He said any foreigner who is engaged in small-scale mining amounts to an illegality.
Answering questions before the Assurance Committee of Parliament on Monday, October 7, he said “The small-scale mining is open to Ghanaians only so any foreigner who is involved in small scale is illegal. if you look at Act 900 and 995 it is even so strange that they even go ahead to say that anybody who goes ahead to solicit for a foreigner to engage in small-scale mining amounts to illegal mining. so it is strictly for Ghanaians. either a man or woman or an adult. The large scale is open to everybody either foreigners or anybody.”
Explaining what occasioned the illegal small-scale mining (Galamsey), Mr Ayisi said “Small-scale mining taking place in about 12 or 13 regions in Ghana. When I joined the commission it was just five regions – Ashanti, Central , Eastern, Western which included or covered Western North and Upper East. These were the five regions and we passed the Small Scale Gold Law 1989 and even passed the Mercuruy Law but not the way we are supposed to use it today and also the PMC Law 219, so 217, 219, 218 were passed to regulate small-scale and then we created offices at Dunkwa, Bibiani, Tarkwa and then Bolga offices
“To delve into our biggest challenge, I will be very blunt with the committee, until that problem is resolved galamsey will not end. In 1986, Prof Akilapa Sawyer, he is still alive, he was the board chair of the Minerals Commission, the CEO was Mr Kofi Ansah also alive. Right from the colonial era through out the ay Nkrumah to the PNDC era, you cant do small-scale mining lawfully so when we sold off the state-owned mines under Kwasi Botchwey because we badly managed them just like GIHOC Ghana Airways and Co, we sold Tarkwa, we sold Prestea, , we sold Dunkwa Continental, Akwatia, mines all of them were sold.
“The World Bank and IMF at that time advised the Rawlings government that all your gold and your diamonds are in Togo, so why don’t you allow people to do it lawfully? Other than that, what diamond is produced in Togo or gold? So quickly we passed the small-scale Gold Law in 1989 and passed the Mercury law to allow them to use mercury, and then we passed the PMC, so that you can have licensed buyers, we created district offices in these five regions. Persons in a small scale were barely 100,000 people the advice at that time to the Minerals Commission was that give mining to the Geological Survey Authority which has the expertise to explore areas we had designated as bock out areas, explore them, and then we give to small scale miners because the large scale people do their own exploration.
“So for 30 years, three decades, government after government did not do it. I remember them, a young lawyer at the Minerals Commission, since 1989 we have not been doing exploration. So if you ask me as an officer of the Minerals Commission, 2nd April 2002, being 22 and half years now, the fundamental cause of illegal smiling or galamsey is getting a place for the miners to work. Until that is resolved we will only go around in the circus.”
He added “through the graciousness of the large-scale people, AngloGold Ashanti, Newmont, Gold Fields, and co, give us a place, and then we license it for them. secondly, the person whose licenses have been canceled for want of performance, we give it to them. Number three, where by law you are given an area to explore, after three years you are supposed to give half back to the government or to the Minerals Commission so when those ones are returned they come with a surrender report, we give it back to the small scale people. The last one is where some of the large-scale people come to us and say we have done a lot of exploration and we want it very big so Minerals Commission, take it and give it out then quickly we plot it, designate it and give it out.”