Community mining is here to stay – Minister assures

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, has allayed fears that the Community Mining Scheme will be abolished by the next New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

According to him, the scheme is sustainable beyond 2020.

“The Scheme has the capacity to create meaningful employment for the youth in mining areas” he noted.

The Minister’s reaction follows the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer,  former President John Mahama’s promise that the next NDC government will replace the Community Mining Scheme with a ‘cooperative mining’ system.

“We’ll introduce cooperative mining so that if these miners have cooperative groups, we’ll get mining safety officers to ensure that they’re doing the right things…” the NDC’s flagbearer said.

But Mr Asomah-Cheremeh insists the scheme will remain the same to serve the purpose it was intended for.

The minister while on a working visit to the Akrokeri Community Mining site on Monday urged the miners to disregard suggestions that the scheme will be abolished.

“Community Mining Scheme has come to stay” he insisted.

Meanwhile, the government has rolled out licenses for four communities in the Ashanti Region; Obunso; Akrokeri, Fumso, and Adamso-Aplapo.

According to Mr Asomah-Cheremeh, the scheme will create some 12,400 direct and indirect jobs.

“This aligns with the government’s agenda of job creation,” he noted.

In June 2020, president Akufo-Addo launched the Community Minning Scheme to encourage responsible small-scale mining, in line with the Minerals and Mining Law.

The scheme is expected to create some 16,000 jobs.

The Community Mining Scheme is one of the many reforms the government introduced to tame illegal mining, among illegal small scale miners.

Illegal small-scale mining, known popularly as galamsey, has existed in Ghana for generations. The ban on it was first imposed in March 2017 and extended several times, despite opposition from smallscale miners.

It followed several years of controversy over the rise of illegal mining operations. Formalising the sector and eliminating galamsey was a key part of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s political agenda when he came to power in January 2017.

Illegal mining operations were seen as causing environmental damage, pollution to water sources and conflict with local communities while depriving the government of royalties paid by legitimate operations – and thus undercutting operators following the law.