The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has unveiled a strategy to reform and regulate Ghana’s small-scale mining sector.

As part of efforts to ensure environmentally responsible and legally compliant mining activities, the government has set up a Technical Small-Scale Mining Review Committee.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, March 19, the Minister outlined the committee’s mandate, emphasizing its responsibility to assess all small-scale mining licenses nationwide. The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources will lead the committee in this effort.

“The committee is to audit all licenses to ensure that they were properly acquired, that due process was followed, that they meet all conditions of continuous validity with respect to how they have followed the rules on the environment and then how they have dealt with the issues of our water bodies, our forest reserves and land preservation.

“All those standards are going to be the guide in which these licenses will be sustained. They are also to ensure permitting fees and all those requirements by all the agencies EPA, Minerals Commission, Water Resources Commission that all those processes required have been met.”