Minerals Commission deploys strategy to tackle galamsey scourge
The country’s long and often frustrating fight against illegal mining is moving into a more organised phase as the Minerals Commission uses manpower, technology, and community-based surveillance to tackle the problem.
The Deputy Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission in charge of Support Services, Emmanuel Anyimah, said oversight of logistics, finance, recruitment and deployment had become a key engine of the government’s anti-galamsey campaign.
The gains were achieved with the support of the commission’s Chief Executive, Isaac Andrews Tandoh, and under the direction of the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah.
“The President and the Minister of Lands were clear that enforcement must work this time. Our responsibility at the commission is to build structures that remain in place, not exercises that come and go,” Mr Anyimah said.
Blue water guard
The strategy includes a Blue Water Guard initiative, a community-based surveillance programme designed to protect rivers, forest reserves and mining concessions from illegal activity.
Unlike previous crackdowns that relied largely on periodic military-style operations, the programme embeds trained personnel within mining districts to provide continuous monitoring and intelligence.
More than 1,600 personnel have already been deployed nationwide, with plans to expand the number to more than 2,000.
The guards operate unarmed, focusing on surveillance and environmental protection and feed intelligence to security agencies coordinated through the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS).
“We didn’t want a symbolic programme, we wanted something structured and accountable, with people permanently assigned to the communities they protect,” Mr Anyimah said in a statement.
The initiative has been backed with approximately GH¢4 million in funding, including about GH¢3.2 million in monthly wages, effectively transforming enforcement into a standing operational system rather than an ad hoc intervention.
Deployments currently span major mining regions, including the Western, Western North, Ashanti, Eastern, Central, Volta, Northern and Savannah zones, covering communities along key river basins such as the Pra and Black Volta.
Technology
The statement also said that the commission was strengthening oversight through technology, with more than 2,000 excavators currently tracked via a digital monitoring system, and an additional 3,000 trackers being procured to expand coverage.
“Under proposed amendments to the Minerals and Mining Act (Act 703), excavators will be registered and geofenced to specific mining concessions, allowing regulators to detect when equipment moves outside authorised boundaries.
“If an excavator leaves its permitted site, we know immediately. That is usually the first sign of illegal activity and we are moving from reacting after damage occurs to preventing it in real time,” it said.
Recovery
Data from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources indicates significant improvements in water quality across several rivers previously affected by illegal mining.
At River Tano in Sefwi, turbidity levels fell dramatically from 139 NTU in 2024 to 14 NTU in 2025, representing an 89 per cent reduction.
Other rivers, including the Barekese, Ankobra and Densu, had also recorded notable improvements.
Beyond enforcement, the government was also pursuing large-scale land reclamation projects to rehabilitate degraded mining areas.
At Manso Nyankomanse in the Ashanti Region, about 320 hectares of mined-out land have been successfully restored under ongoing reclamation initiatives.
Recognising that enforcement alone cannot solve the problem, the government was also promoting regulated community mining.
Through initiatives such as the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), organised community groups were being allocated designated concessions to mine responsibly away from rivers and environmentally sensitive areas.
