I’ll use AI to combat illegal mining if elected president – Mahama
The flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to use Artificial Intelligence(AI) to fight illegal mining if he is elected to lead the nation once again after the 2024 general election.
Speaking at the 3rd Annual Transformational Dialogue on Small-scale Mining at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani, Mahama said his government will use “AI to locate all small-scale mining and galamsey operations, track excavators, and geofence all concessions” to help coordinate and monitor activities within the small-scale mining sector to reduce environmental destruction which has become a canker for the nation.
The NDC flagbearer also promised that a special fund would be set up to help provide a pool of mining equipment for sustainable exploitations in mining communities.
“A special revolving fund will be established with the private sector to provide capital and a mining equipment pool in each district where gold mining is prevalent. This will facilitate easy and affordable access to relevant mining equipment”.
As to how the use of AI can be used to tackle illegal mining commonly known as ‘galamsey’, the former President, seeking re-election said his government will achieve its pledge by implementing his recently announced Ghana Mining Excellence Centre (GMEC), which would be coordinated by UENR and UMaT [University of Mines and Technology].
“To support all these brilliant initiatives and ensure that we are implementing them as best as possible, I have announced the launch of a Ghana Mining Excellence Centre (GMEC), to be run initially for five years and which will be coordinated by UENR and UMaT.
“As I have envisioned it, the Centre will collaborate with scientists from other universities worldwide to implement joint research and innovation projects that will simulate green growth within the Ghanaian mining and minerals industry”.
Meanwhile, the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has also pledged to introduce a mining curriculum in all schools to facilitate the studies of basic mining to promote responsible mining and reclamation.
Speaking at the same event[3rd Annual Transformational Dialogue on Small-scale Mining at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR)], Bawumia further assured that if he got the chance to become President, he would adequately resource Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) to establish more gold buying centres to mop all the gold and resource small-scale miners, and also establish an equipment pool to support small-scale mining activities to improve their production.
He added that his government would organize periodic training for the miners to beef up their knowledge and skills.