A four-day stakeholders workshop has been held at Tarkwa in the Western Region to discuss small-scale gold mining in the country.

It was organised by the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania State University and funded by the National Science Foundation of the United States of America.

It was preceded with a short course on Medical Geology for 40 participants including researchers, lecturers and students in biophysical and social sciences, engineering and medical science; government officials, non- governmental organisations, medical practitioners, small-scale miners and gold buyers, drawn from the two countries.

Among other things, the workshop aimed to provide a platform for the participants to discuss and enrich their collective knowledge and undestanding of complex systems with a specific focus on social-ecological resilience in the small-scale gold mining sector, from both ecological perspective (how much pollution and landscape disturbance can an ecosystem absorb) and social perspective (how much marginalisation and criminalisation can the small-scale mining community absorb).

Participants also discussed how understanding of local community representation and participation within the sector can contribute to increased resilience and generation of potentially sustainable solutions.

It was opened by Professor Richard Amankwah of Mineral Engineering Department, UMaT, and Professor Petra Tschakert of the Alliance for Earth Sciences, Engineering and Development in Africa (AESEDA), Pennsylvania State University (Penn State).

Source: Francis Donkoh, Tarkwa - The Ghanaian Times