Reason for Revoking of Small Scale Mining Licenses by the Minister, may demo incompetency, so, he must watch it

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources recently indicated that he had to revoke the Small Scale Mining licenses of Some Small Scale Miners because the previous regime issued the licenses after 07 December 2024. I hope this was not a joke, otherwise if the licenses were really invoked because they were issued after 07 December 2024, then the Minister has brought a huge embarrassment to himself and the Office especially the technical advisors, when he added that he saw his action as a blue print to check illegal mining. He needs to go back to the drawing Board for him to be able to answer the below question.

Then one may ask him what is the purpose for issuing the mining license? Consider the scenario where Kojo is a newly trained driver in a rural area called Bogobirikrom and has a car and wanted a driving license to be legal compliance and DVLA is using flimsy excuses to deny him. Hmm, He may drive without a license when the need arises.

So to reduce illegal mining to the barest minimum, Small Scale Mining license must be made to be acquired easily, at less cost, and within a shorter period. So the Minister’s explanation was illegal. Revocation of license is granted at Section 87 of the Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703). So, he should have simply worked within the mining law by saying that he was revoking or revoked the licenses as provided at Section 87 (a) the licensees did not meet the requirements or (b) the Licensees were convicted of an offence related to smuggling or illegal sale, or dealing in minerals or (c). For the interest of the public

He courted further embarrassment when he talked of banning the Community Mining Concept and replace it with Small Scale cooperative mining schemes. If this is also true, then the Sector Minister has demonstrated gross ignorance of issues in the Mining Industry especially in the Small Scale Mining Sector, hence he is incompetent to be the Sector Minister.

The idea of Community Small Scale Mining is good one and was my baby or idea. So, I recommend the Minster to accept this concept as the appropriated term for Small Scale Mining and create a Medium Scale Mining Sector for Ghanaians tycoons to operate solely or in partnership with foreigners. When I was with the Bogoso Gold Mine and with the approval of the then MD of the Company, as the Security Superintendent, I experimented with the same concept with a policy of Live and Let us Live which was initiated in 2004. So, I caused the establishment of Prestea Mining Group and within the group were a number of cooperatives or subunits.

Each Cooperative was made of nine or more persons including women. The composition of the Cooperatives among others, were made of the Pit or Ghetto Owners, or Barons or the financiers/buyers, Diggers or Rock breakers, Gold ore carriers, sometimes a Blasting team though they were not allowed to use explosives, then the ore processing team through amalgamation and a security element. I, could easily, halt the small Scale Mining operation in Prestea for one week especially when we have by speaking to the Chairman of the Prestea Mining Group, who is recognized by the Chief. So control of the Community Mining activity was also done by the Chief through the Chairman.

Likewise, the then Hon DC and Hon MP (Hon Aubyn) had the good link with the Chairman and were able to rein the personnel. Hence a good local and credible governance system is sin qua non. Remember the Campaign message of His Excellency Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the then Vice President of Ghana, when he declared in 2004 that Prestea is a Galamasey and Galamasey is Prestea. This was after the then VP and his team including the then Minister of Mines namely Hon Mrs Cecilia Bannerman and her Deputy Hon Alhaji Majeed Maroun (a Nabia). Also during the 2024 Presidential Election, the then Vice Presidential Candidate of the NDC, in her campaign at Amenfi Central, called for Amenfi Central Galamasey Community for them to acknowledge her presence. So Community Small Scale Mining is apt.

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the Minister for Environment must be educated that Small Scale mining is a spontaneous poverty driven activity for survival, so to them, the issue of license is irrelevant for their survival. So license or no license, they will operate and that is exactly what is happening in Ghana because the operators see the gold as in Prestea or Amenfi Central or Salt as in Ada Songor area as a gift from Almighty God for them to escape from their poverty miseries. So we used to hear gold rush at Elmina Beach or the banks or edges of rivers after a heavy rainfall.

Yes, we should also not forget the possibility of get rich quick mentality of some Ghanaians, especially the tycoons which may result in massive negative environment effects, social effects to the miners and others. So, license or no license the operators will mine. So their activities will fall in the domain of Small Scale Mining.

The two above mentioned Ministers as National Leaders or VIPs need to be very conversant on the Environmental, economic Social Political history of Ghana especially the Economic, Social and Political reforms in 1989, when as part of means of poverty alleviation the PNDC launched Programmes of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) to create job opportunities through a series of Small Scale Projects.

As Ministers whose sectors regulate Mining activities through issuance of Mining licenses and Mining Permits they should know by now what caused people to mine without licenses and the remedies to cure the menace. So the PNDC to kill two birds with one Stone came out with measures in the Mining Sector as stated below.

The PNDC in 1989, as part of poverty alleviation programs enacted three important poverty alleviation laws namely Small Scale Gold Mining Law or Gold and Diamond Galamasey Law 1989 (PNDCLaw 218) for coexistence of Small Scale Gold Miners and Large Scale Mining Companies as part of PAMSCAD, Google for Small Scale Gold Mining Law 1989 (PNDC Law 218) and read Section 21 which put three caveats namely no use of substantial expenditure, no use of sophisticated equipment and restricted Small Scale Mining to Ghanaians. Google for ‘Is Small Scale Gold Mining 1989 (PNDC Law 218) part of PAMSCAD’.

Furthermore, the PNDC enacted the Ada Songhor Small Scale Salt Mining law or Salt Galamasey Law 1989 (PNDCLaw 287) for coexistence of indigene small Scale salt miners and the Private Mining Companies as part of PAMSCAD and also the National Weekly Lotto Amendment Law 1989 (PNDCL 223) for coexistence between Banker to Banker operators and NLA as part of PAMSCAD. Note Banker to Banker Lotto was outlawed in 2006 with National Lotto Act 2006 Act 722 yet Banker to Banker lotto is operated in the open or under broad sunlight under sunshine. This is the Country called Ghana, where lawlessness is the order of the day.

Let me reiterate that Small Scale Mining is a poverty driven activity, hence, a necessary human evil for survival like prostitution. So like some women in prostitution do for survival and need interventions including education on how to use condom to protect themselves, the activity of Small Scale mining in the English Language which is synonymous or same as Galamasey in Twi etc also needs to be regulated to ensure the protection of the environment, the right of the indigenous miners and the associated community.

The two Ministers must know that It is universal acclaimed that the discoverer or founder of something say veronica bucket or a gold deposit should have the right to win (secure) or mine by obtaining a patent (franchise) or a mining title, so in the mining sector, the mechanism for the transfer of the mining right or title is by acquisition of a Mining Lease in the case of Large Scale Mining Sector or Mining license in the case of Small Scale Mining Sector through a license regime.

So, licensing regime in the Small Scale Mining Sector, among others, is just a measure for adjustment of Small Scale Mining into an ecological or ecofriendly activity. There is also the need for Regularization by regulations. The Regulation of the mining activity is to protect both the environment and the rights of the indigenous miners and that of others.

So, as part of Legalization and Regularization of Galamasey or indigenous or the Time-tested traditional mining to wit Small Scale Mining, the PNDC or Ghana adopted a number of approaches by creating a simple license regime under the PNDC law 218, a delivery marketing arrangements for the sale and exporting of gold through Precious Minerals and Marketing Company 1989 (PNDC Law 219) for registry of formal buyers of gold, assaying and weighing of and exporting same.

The Minister must understand that small scale mining operators by the true nature of their plight do not see the need for mining license because they feel the benefits does not outweigh the cost and the issue of too much bureaucracy made both very disincentives. So the PNDC created district minerals commission or small scale mining centers or offices with delegated Officer close to the potential miners to make it easy for the informal potential miners to Register and Regularize informal mining,

The two Minister must be told that the state of illegal mining in Ghana is due to a very bad/ ambiguous Small Scale Mining Law which were prepared by the Regime of President Kofour in 2006 when all the laws on minerals and mining were amalgamated into one as Minerals and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703) and passed by Parliament.

The situation of illegal mining was aggravated in 2012 with an aspect of the Minerals and Mining Regulation Support Service 2012 (LI2174) which illegally allowed foreigners to operate in the Small Scale Mining Sector as Support Service Providers, a sector exclusively reserved for Ghanaians. Hence the thousands of excavators and Chafang machines in the Small Scale Mining was motivated by this bad law.

Likewise an aspect of the Minerals and Mining Amendment 2015 (Act 900) which ousted the Precious Minerals Marketing Company from buying and exporting of gold from the Small Scale Mining Sector and gave it to greedy foreigners to buy and export gold from the Small Scale Mining Sector was not the best for Ghana. PMMC by this bad law is condemned as National Assayer. This law which ousted PMMC from exporting of gold gave birth to the Gold for Oil Initiative and now the Gold Board. Parliament must scrutinize the Gold Board Bill in order not to promote more illegal mining in order to meet the expected weekly gold production target.