Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipality to end illegal sand winning
The Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission has organised a day’s workshop for sand and gravel winners and related institutions in the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality to educate them on the Minerals and Mining Act 2006, Act 703, which addresses the issue of mining lease and licence for prospecting.
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The decision to hold the workshop was influenced by the damage sand and gravel winning activities were doing to large tracts of fertile agricultural lands in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri area which was having a negative impact on the livelihood of farmers in the area.
Knowledge of Minerals Act
The workshop was held on the theme: "Minerals Property and Minerals Rights: Mineral and Mining Act, 2006, Act 703". At the end of the course, participants were expected to have gained working knowledge on the Mining Act 2006, Act 703 and the procedures involved in acquiring a licence to prospect and mine sand and gravel.
The course was attended by operators in sand and gravel, representatives of the Forestry Commission, the Police, National Fire Service, and officials from the Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission.
Officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also took the opportunity to educate the participants on land reclamation procedures.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipal Assembly, Mr Mark Dompreh, said illegal winning of sand was causing destruction to a number of roads in the municipality.
“The activities of sand and gravel winners are having serious impact on roads in the municipality as the heavy truck used in carting the commodities has destroyed even the MIDA-funded Nsawam-Pakro road constructed in 2009,” he said.
Comply with the law
Mr Dompreh said the assembly was working very hard to do away with illegal sand and gravel winning in the municipality. At the moment, he said the business was going to be concentrated on the outskirts of the municipality.
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"The assembly has embarked on a series of programmes in which farmers are being educated not to give out their lands for sand or gravel to be mined illegally,” he said.
He further entreated sand and gravel winners to abide by the law governing their operations.
Mr Isaac Mernu of the Minerals Commission took the participants through the Minerals and Mining Act. He said all the minerals in the country were vested in the President in trust for the citizens of the country, as such it was an offence to mine any mineral without securing a licence from the Minerals Commission.
"Despite a right or title which a person may have to a land which has minerals, that person shall not conduct search, reconnaissance, prospecting, exploration or mining activities for a mineral unless the person has been granted a mineral right in accordance with the Minerals and Mining Act," he said.
He said it was simple to acquire a mineral right and it took less than three months to a get a licence.
Mr Mernu advised the sand and gravel winners not to mine the resource near sources of drinking water, within towns, in forest reserves, in cemeteries and mausoleums and under high tension and railway lines.