The government has announced the first batch of 220 mining guards trained to police mining activities across the country will be deployed in April 2019.

This comes on the back of the activities of some unscrupulous small scale miners in the Western North Region.

A visit to some of the areas in Diaso, Wassa in the Western Region confirmed large portions of Ghana’s rain forest destroyed by activities of small-scale miners in the Diaso forest.

It was obvious that despite the measures put in place to curb the menace, some recalcitrants are flouting the rules of engagement in responsible and environmentally friendly mining.

One measure government has put in place is to deploy mining guards who will augment the effort of the task force on Illegal mining Operation Vanguard.

The Mining guards have undergone training in surveillance, ethics of security services, as well as appropriate ways of effecting arrests of illegal miners.

They would serve as focal persons on mining of all forms, including small-scale gold mining, sand winning, quarrying and other industrial mineral operations in satellite areas set up by the Minerals Commission.

The team will also be monitoring mining activities around water bodies.

Speaking about some government interventions during a tour of some mining areas in the Western and Ashanti Region, the Lands and Natural resources minister, Kweku Asomah Cheremeh said they are hoping to train more field-based mining guards to augment the efforts of other agencies in the sector.

He noted, “ we are committed to sanitizing the mining sector. This is why we are implementing a lot of innovative solutions. One of such is the training of the mining and forest guards. The first batch of the mining guards will be deployed in April.

Another set of three hundred and eighty will be sent for training at the Police training school.

“After their training, they will also be deployed to augment the efforts of operation vanguard. We are doing this to deal with the level of devastation in these areas”, he added.

Reclamation of Galamsey sites

Hon Asomah-Cheremeh further revealed that he will ensure Cabinet approval for the implementation of the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP).

“A reclamation exercise largely at our ministry falls under the MMIP. The MMIP is yet to be launched. I will start defending the memo we have put before Cabinet subcommittee after which it will come before the cabinet for a decision to be made on that. If the response is favourable thereafter we will start the reclamation exercise. Part of the money has been procured. On 20th April we will have to be in Paris, France, to finish the MMIP funding issue” he explained.

He said the the government has secured part of the funds needed to end the damaging effects of illegal mining across the country.

The cost of the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP), has been pegged at $200 million, which is up by $50 million in the initial estimate put forth in a policy document.

The amount is expected to be financed by statutory funds such as the Mineral Development Fund and Annual Budgetary allocation from Government.