Galamsey Drones Ready

One hundred and forty Drone pilots under the Digital module of the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) have successfully gone through two sets of comprehensive training, as part of the Government's roadmap towards lifting the ban on illegal mining. About 90 drones have been acquired and would be deployed in all the mining areas to gather data that would be transmitted to a designated system for analysis and to make a decision on license issuances.

The first training programme was in drone piloting and in issues in the mining sector at the University of Mines and Technology, at Tarkwa.

The final exercise, which ended, on Wednesday, for the 17 females and 123 males at the Asutuare Military Training Camp, was to build up their confidence and team spirit.

It also involved a basic military drill, motor communication, and physical training.

Other exercises the group went through to rekindle their mental toughness and health consciousness, were obstacle crossing, fighting without arms, unarmed combat and first aid on the field.

Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Minister of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) addressing the closing ceremony at Asutuare, said the move demonstrated the seriousness President Nana Addo attached to preserving the environment.

He urged all and sundry to support the Governments' fight against the menace of Galamsey to save the environment and complement the many interventions towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals targets on nature preservation through afforestation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

While, expressing joy at the graduation of the drone pilot personnel, the Minister stated: 'The Government really means business and we are ready to win this fight against illegalities in the small-scale mining sector. Nature is keeping us so we have to protect it'.

Dr Ibrahim Anyars, Chief Executive Officer of NABCO, explained that the training was in with the core functions of NABCO, which was exploiting knowledge for productivity, punctuality, responsiveness, experience acquisition and integrity.

'We do not want them to condone and connive with illegal miners so we had put them through these range of exercises especially mental toughness training to build them to eschew such practices and contribute meaningfully to this nation-building campaign,' he said.

Captain Fredric Amankwa, a Training Officer at the Asutuare Training Military Camp, said the training was very important for the mandate ahead of the drone pilot.

'You cannot work in the galamsey field when you are mentally weak so we took them through a vigorous exercise to ascertain their perseverance threshold and to help them to improve on it.

Taking them through the mental alertness exercise has brought out the discipline in them, which has made them different and ready,' he added.

Source: GNA