The decision of the government with the massive backing The media, including The Chronicle to end illegal mining in the country, has created a big problem for the Deputy Minister for Deputy Minister for land and Natural Resources, Barbara Oteng Gyasi, whose ministry is incidentally spearheading the crusade on behalf of the government.
The Deputy Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Prestea-Huni-Valley, the hub of illegal mining activities (galamsey) in Ghana, is in a serious dilemma as to whether she should openly support the campaign that has been waged against the illegal miners, or condemn it.
Already, the state-owned Sankofa Gold Mines, which is based at Prestea, in her constituency, has raised the red flag that it would send its 200 workers home, if the activities of both illegal and small-scale mining were banned.
Sankofa Gold Mines, which was set up by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) during Tsatsu Tsikata's administration,depends on illegal and small-scale miners for its operations.
The mining coy does not have a concession of its own and, therefore, buys tailing from illegal miners for its operations.
With the banning of illegal mining and suspension of the operations of the legal small-scale miners, the company is now on the verge of collapse. Speaking in a telephone interview with The Chronicle, Barbara Oteng Gyasi admitted that the banning of illegal mining and suspension of the operations of small-scale miners would create problems for Sankofa Mines.
To her, the small-scale miners, who are not into alluvial mining or working close to water bodies, should be allowed to work.
She foresees failure in the implementation of the directive, if the miners moved away from alluvial mining, which mostly destroys the water bodies.
A former Board Member of Sankofa Gold, on his part, told this reporter in a separate interview that the directive suspending small-scale mining could lead to the closure of Sankofa Gold.
This is because the company relies solely on tailings supplied by illegal miners.
Buying of tailings from the illegal miners is not the preserve of the Sankofa God Mine alone - some of the big time mining companies operating in the Western Region are also doing same.
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