Extend investigation to Upper East Region – Mining groups

Some registered small-scale mining groups at the Gbane community in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region have called on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to extend the investigation into gold smuggling by foreigners to the region.

The Mining groups appealed to Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Sector Minister, to conduct investigations into the activities of foreign mining companies that are operating in the region.

This was contained in a press release, signed and copied to the Ghana News Agency by Mr. Charles Taleog Ndanbon, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Yenyeya, one of the registered small-scale mining companies.

The groups made the call in reaction to a report of gold smuggling out of the country by some foreign mining companies.

Among some of the legally registered Small Scale Mining Groups in the area are the Yenyeya Mining group, Pubortaaba Mining Group, Unique Mining Group, and the Nalamtaaba Mining Group.

The groups alleged that the smuggling was not only limited to the southern part but across the country, including the Upper East Region.

They alleged that some of the foreign mining companies had also violated the contractual agreements signed between them and the registered small mining groups and were cheating and exploiting them.

The release warned of looming tension at the Gbane mining community as one of the foreign mining companies in the area was continuously defaulting in the payment of the shares of some registered Small Scale Mining Groups that were providing mining support services to it.

It urged the Sector Minister to take swift action to resolve the misunderstanding and mistrust among the registered Small Scale Mining Groups in the area to avoid confrontation.

“While lauding your effort for taking a bold step at sanitizing some of the state mining regulation bodies in the country upon your assumption of duty as the sector minister, we the legally registered Small Scale Mining Groups in the Gbane community urge you to intervene to help prevent the foreign mining companies from cheating us and the country as a whole,” it said.