The Chairman of the Mine Geotechnical Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia, Prof Fidelis Suorineni, has said the battle to clamp down on illegal mining would not be won if better alternative solutions were not introduced to those involved.
Professor Suorineni said there must be a total understanding of the fundamentals for people engaging in illegal mining before efforts are made to stop it.
He said poverty and unemployment pushed people into illegal mining and that until such conditions no longer existed, illegal mining would never cease.
He said the practice was inherent and that employing the services of a taskforce to arrest those involved would only postpone their operations but never stop the act.
Prof Suorineni made these known to the GNA on the sidelines of the 3rd Biennial International Mining and Mineral Conference of the University of Mines and Technology (UMAT), at Tarkwa.
He advised that government should rather implement effective measures such as creating employment, organising forums on the risk involved and the harm it does to the economy for the illegal miners.
The 3rd Biennial International Mining and Mineral Conference was held on the theme " Innovations in Mining and Mineral Processing: Expanding the frontiers of Mining technology"
The Vice Chancellor of UMAT, Prof Jerry Kuma, said the University was to become a centre of excellence in Ghana and Africa for conducting cutting edge research and for producing world class professionals for the mining, petroleum and allied industries.
He said the conference formed part of the package put together to sharpen the vision of the University and that the platform will be used to share ideas and experiences in addressing challenges in the mining, petroleum and allied sector.
The conference brought together 250 delegates from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, Canada and United Kingdom.
It was sponsored mainly by Metso Minerals with support from The Ghana Small Scale Miners Association and the Volta River Authority.
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