By Edmund Smith-Asante
 |
| Dr Toni Aubynn (3rd- left),CEO of the Ghana Minerals Commission addressing the press on the measures to reform artisanal and small-scale mining in Accra. |
The Minerals Commission has launched
an initiative to train small-scale miners to run and operate their businesses
along efficient management and company lines.
Under the initiative, a Learning and
Leadership Group made up of businesses and community leaders had been formed to
share ideas with small-scale miners on how best to conduct their mining along
business lines.
The group has already developed an
agenda for action that includes demonstrating the “business case” for
responsible artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), improving practices within
the small-scale mining sector, and building support across Ghanaian
institutions for the sector as a force for positive growth and equity in the
country.
The reform started in January with
an “action dialogue” at Tarkwa, organised by Ghanaian NGO, Friends of the
Nation, with the support of UK-based International Institute for Environment
and Development’s (IIED) artisanal mining sector dialogues’ programme and is
the first of such dialogues to be held in Africa.
Prior to the dialogue, however,
visits were conducted to artisanal and small-scale mine sites and followed up
with two days of workshop discussions with experts from the Ghana Minerals
Commission, government departments, artisanal and small-scale miners, large
mining companies, academia and non governmental organisations.
Major shift
A media briefing on the initiative,
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Minerals Commission, Dr Toni
Aubynn, said “What we need is a major shift. A shift from a small-scale mining
sector driven by poverty and a lack of option, to small-scale mining operations
that are run like efficient businesses, with adequate access to finance.
He lauded the formation of the
learning group that would act as a board “to execute the transition from the
negative side of artisanal or small-scale mining to the positive side,” adding
that “this complements the work of the Minerals Commission.
Role of ASM
A small-scale miner and the
Coordinator of Women in Mining at the Ghana National Association of Small Scale
Miners (GNASSM), Ms Amina Tahiru, said “Miners must play a leading part in this
sector reform. We have to commit ourselves to responsible mining practices so
we can have the respect of the Ghanaian society.”
She added that while many
small-scale miners were already operating responsibly, the association
nonetheless, wanted many more to do so.
The leader of the ASM Africa Network
(ASMAN), Nii Adjetey Kofi-Mensah, for his part said civil society organisations
such as ASMAN aimed at supporting the development of an environmentally
sustainable and socially acceptable small-scale mining sector that could be a
tool for poverty reduction in resource-rich rural communities.”
This
story was first published by the Daily Graphic on March 22, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment