Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources has revealed that the President of Ghana has tasked him to make sure that a viable, sustainable, environmentally prudent mining industry both at the level of small scale and large scale is built. He made this known during his visit to AngloGold Ashanti in Obuasi on Wednesday.
The Minister as part of his two-day working visit to the Ashanti Region visited the Obuasi Mine and also used the opportunity to meet some small-scale miners in the town.
“The vision of the President for the mining sector is simple, that we build here in Ghana a viable, sustainable, environmentally prudent mining industry in Ghana both at the level of small scale and large scale,” he said.
“The resources, which have been given to Ghanaians by God, should be of benefit to investors but should also be of tremendous benefit to Ghanaians and so the involvement of Ghanaians and Ghanaian companies is extremely important,” he added.
After his tour of the Mine, he went ahead to meet the leadership of small-scale miners who are seeking access to neglected lands by Anglogold Ashanti, saying it will provide employment for the youth.
The small scall miners are currently seeking to have access to the Abompekrom site where some of the small scall miners used to mine before its closure by the Mine in 2017. The Mine argues that those areas requested to be released for small-scale mining are still in their future plans and therefore are “no go areas”.
Anglogold Ashanti relinquished 60 percent of its concession in 2016 and is currently operating on 30 percent of the 475 km square concession with 3,830 workers employed by contractors of the company. The company itself directly employs 935 workers.
