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Mining companies that do not comply with the stipulated mining regulations will be closed and their owners or managers prosecuted. The measure is to ensure the safety of mine workers and safeguard the environment, especially water bodies. A Senior Inspector of Mines in charge of the Eastern Region, Mr. Kofi Adjei, made this known at a seminar organized for managers of large, medium and small scale mining companies, traditional rulers and officials of the various assemblies in the Eastern Region this week. The seminar was to educate the participants on the new Mining law-Minerals and Mining (Health, Safety) Regulation 2012 (LI 2182). According to Mr. Adjei, it had been the practice of some mining companies to flout mining regulations at the peril of their workers which also adversely affected the environment. He warned that any company that would henceforth flout the regulations would be closed down and the owners or managers prosecuted. Giving the history of mining in the then Gold Coast, Mr. Adjei said mining started in the country somewhere in the 1920s but previous regulations did not take into consideration issues such as surface mining, dredging, processing plants, especially with regard to cyanide and many aspects of modern technology in mining. He explained that such lapses called for a new mining law which covered all the mining, and advised managers of the mining companies to strictly adhere to them.