Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the leader of the New Patriotic Party, has outlined a comprehensive plan for the mining industry that he claims will effectively regulate the sector, support small-scale miners, and safeguard the environment.
Approximately one million Ghanaians work in small-scale mining. Dr. Bawumia addressed the public in Accra on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, outlining his vision and priorities for the country. He stated that responsible mining practices must be implemented by these miners in order to increase wealth, protect the environment, and promote responsible mining.
“Small-scale mining employs about a million people. Our objective is to support the expansion of small-scale mining enterprises into larger ones by helping them obtain financing for equipment acquisition and by building their capacity. If we help them, we can make a lot of millionaires in the small-scale mining sector, according to Dr. Bawumia.
“To ensure that the activities of the entire value chain are done sustainably and responsibly, my government will support the Minerals Commission and key stakeholders in formalizing the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) sector. This will allow the majority of the gold produced by this sector to be sold to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and be eligible to be part of the central bank’s gold reserves.”
In keeping with this, Dr. Bawumia continued, his government “will license all miners doing responsible mining.” The chiefs and other members of the district mining committee will grant miners initial, temporary licenses.
“There won’t be any more excavators seized or burned as long as miners mine within the parameters of their licenses, such as no mining in rivers or other bodies of water.”
“I will make sure that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minerals Commission are present in every mining district and completely decentralize them.”
Dr. Bawumia continued by saying that under his administration, all Ghanaians engaged in small-scale mining would register using their Ghanacards with the Ghana Small Scale Miners Association.
“We will open more new community mining schemes and convert abandoned shafts into community mining schemes in partnership with the major mining companies.”
Additional programs that Dr. Bawumia disclosed for the mining industry are:
*Pension scheme for small-scale miners as we have for cocoa farmers.
• Introduce vocational and skills training on sustainable mining for small-scale miners in the curriculum of TVET institutions.
• Provide equipment to government authorities in mining communities to undertake reclamation of land
•Set up state-of-the-art common-user gold processing units in mining districts in collaboration with the private sector.
•Conduct an audit of all concessions with various licenses and new applications which will allow the government to know licenses that have expired and non-compliance with licensing conditions.
• To encourage exploration, the Bawumia government will abolish the VAT on exploration services (like assaying) to encourage more exploration.
• We will establish, in collaboration with the private sector, a Minerals Development Bank to support the mining industry.
• We will establish (through the private sector) a London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) certified gold refinery in Ghana within four years.
• All responsibly mined small-scale gold produced will be sold to the central bank, PMMC or MIIF and will be required to be refined before export.”
