Prioritise investment in mineral exploration - Prof. Ofori-Sarpong Akuffo urges govt

In the wake of the destruction of water bodies and the environment by illegal miners, the government has been urged to prioritise investment in the exploration of mineable lands to promote sustainable mining in the country.

A minerals and metallurgical engineer, Professor Grace Ofori-Sarpong Akuffo, said delineating mineable lands would ensure that prospective miners were allocated concessions at designated areas to prevent the current situation where “they go about digging everywhere in the desperate search for gold”.

She said state investment in the exploration and delineation of mineable lands was the best approach to curbing the environmental destruction associated with small-scale mining.

Prof. Ofori-Sarpong Akuffo, who is the Dean of the Planning and Quality Assurance Unit of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, in the Western Region, was speaking at the annual lecture series in the sciences by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS), in Accra.

The lecture was on the topic, “Gold beneficiation in Ghana: Promoting sustainable practices.”

In attendance were members of academia, researchers, scientists, as well as students and members of the public.
 

Context

Ghana was ranked the sixth largest producer of gold in 2023. Gold is the most commercially exploited mineral in the country, accounting for 95 per cent of mineral revenue.

The small-scale mining sector (SSM) directly employs 1.5 million people, with auxiliary jobs in the sector at six million.

The SSM sector is, however, facing challenges of illegal mining. Currently, a multi-stakeholder coalition made up of organised labour, the media and CSOs have mounted pressure on the government to ban all forms of small-scale mining to help curb the escalating galamsey menace.
   

Sustainability

Prof. Ofori-Sarpong Akuffo said bringing sanity to the SSM sector in the medium to long term would require resourcing the GGSA to carry out exploration across the country to block out potential mineral-rich areas to prevent the indiscriminate digging for the gold.

“Exploration is extremely important and also capital intensive, but if we do not do that and someone comes from outside to do it and gets the mineral, we will all lose out,” she said.

Prof. Ofori-Sarpong Akuffo also stressed the need for state regulatory agencies, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minerals Commission to strictly enforce regulations on posting of reclamation bonds by mining companies.

“The large-scale mining companies post reclamation bonds and it binds them to do what is right to ensure environmental stewardship. I believe that if we extend this to the SSM sector, it will help to take care of the environment,” she said.

Prof. Ofori-Sarpong Akuffo  also called for the enforcement of Regulation 23 of the Environmental Assessment Regulations 1999 (L.I. 1652), which requires the EPA to make sure that prospective small-scale miners post reclamation bonds in the form of cash into an escrow account based on approved reclamation plans.

Regulations 472 (2c) of the Minerals and Mining (Health, Safety and Technical) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2182), also requires the Minerals Commission to ensure that prospective small-scale miners submit an operating plan, together with other requirements for the acquisition of SSM operating permit.

She also called for the use of mercury-free gold mining technologies by small-scale miners to limit the negative impact of mercury and other chemicals on the environment.

Prof. Ofori-Sarpong said small-scale miners could also adopt a three-pond tailings dam system for the management of tailings at their mining sites to ensure that water used for the processing of gold was recycled and reused.

“As for the calls for a ban on small-scale mining, it must be preceded by discussions, reasoning and thinking,” she said, adding that there must also be a commitment to enforce the laws.