The Upper East regional police have arrested 30 illegal miners who invaded the underground mine of a mining company in the Talensi District.
According to a press statement by the mining company, Earl International Group Gold Ltd, the group were part of 200 unauthorized persons who besieged the mine on Saturday, August 10, 2024.
It company said that this comes after weeks of heightened invasions and attacks on their staff in the mines.
The statement explained that these illegal miners normally enter the mine through illegal pits they had constructed.
It continued that the culprits come fully armed and protected by heavily built men, attack the staff, take over drilling equipment to mine illegally or steal blasted ore.
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In a separate but related incident, one person died as illegal miners resisted attempts by the Upper East Regional Security Council and the Minerals Commission to seal off the mining pits they were operating within the concessions of the mining company.
The confrontation, which unfolded in the early hours of Friday, March 15, 2024, lasted for close to seven hours between the security forces, comprising military and police personnel, and the miners, resulting in a scuffle, leading to injuries of some miners.
Efforts by the security forces to enforce the closure of the illegal mining pits were met with fierce resistance from the miners, resulting in fisticuffs.
The uniformed personnel fired shots to disperse the crowd, prompting the illegal miners and their wives to pelt stones at the security officers and their vehicles.
A young miner got hit by a bullet and was pronounced dead on arrival after he was rushed to a nearby hospital.