I want you to be millionaires through my responsible mining policies - Bawumia assures miners

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has assured miners and mining communities in Ghana that he has well-thought-out policies, which he will implement as President to ensure beneficial and responsible mining across the country.

At the beginning of his Ashanti Regional tour on Monday, November 4, 2024, in Atwima Mponua, a mining community, Dr. Bawumia said he is committed to empowering miners to be millionaires through responsible mining by implementing game-changing policies.

These include a new licensing regime involving traditional rulers, community mining schemes, the establishment of a mining development bank to resource miners to buy responsible mining equipment, and the involvement of the geological survey department for mapping.

"I want you to be millionaires through responsible mining, so we will license you, formalize you, regularize you and supervise you," Dr. Bawumia said.

He further explained that traditional rulers from mining communities will be involved in the licensing regime.

"I am also going to establish the minerals development bank, which will be a bank for small-scale miners so that they can be assisted to buy the right equipment for responsible mining.

"We are also going to introduce a community mining scheme, and we will get the geological survey department to ensure mining is done at the right place accurately. The geological survey department will come to mining areas to determine where the gold is so there won't be trial and error leading to the destruction of the land. We will use the mapping to help you determine where the gold is so that there will be responsible mining in every mining community," he added.

Dr. Bawumia also assured that part of his steps towards responsible mining would be to curb the use of mercury, which will be replaced by gold catcher machines.

"We will not destroy the environment, and to ensure that, we will bring mercury-free gold catcher machines to you so that everyone can benefit," Dr. Bawumia said amidst cheers from mining representatives who were part of his stakeholders' engagement in Atwima Mponua Constituency.