Information Minister Nkrumah announces new policy framework on small-scale mining

The government of Ghana recently announced a new policy framework that is intended to regularizing and reforming mining activities across the nation. The framework was drawn by the Inter-Ministerial Committee against illegal mining which was established to supervise the ban on small-scale mining.

The current Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said at a media briefing in Takoradi on December 11 that the new policy framework has been approved by cabinet and would be rolled out to among other things avert a resurgence of illegal and irresponsible mining in the country.

He said per the new framework, more than 3,000 newly trained former "galamsey" operators, including thousands more who are interested in mining, shall be allowed to operate legally after December 15, 2018, as reported by Graphic Online.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah further clarified that the new framework also talks about the processes towards dredging and land reclamation in the areas affected by illegal mining, institutional reforms within the mining regulatory agencies as well as legal reforms in the mining sector. He was also confident that stakeholders including the Ghanaians would support and cooperate the authorities as the new phase on the ban on small-scale mining is rolled out.