Ghana's mining laws to be read by arriving passengers at KIA

Arriving passengers at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), would now have immediate access to Ghana’s mining laws as part of measures to prevent foreigners from engaging in illegal mining.

Nii Osah Mills, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said this when he inaugurated Signages in English, French and Chinese, which have been placed at vantage points within the arrival hall of the KIA, to educate passengers on the country’s mining laws.

“This exercise has been necessitated by the fact that some foreigners caught engaging in illegal mining, explained that they were ignorant of the law, or could not understand the law, which is only written in English,” said the Minister.

He reminded the public that the laws of Ghana only permitted Ghanaians to engage in mining activities.

“In effect, no foreigner has the right to carry out small scale mining, let alone Galamsey,” Nii Osah said.

The Minister said, “It is the hope of the Ministry, that these Signages would adequately inform individuals arriving in the country on the mining law Act 703 of 2006.”

He expressed appreciation to the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana for her help in translating the law into the Chinese language, as well as the KIA authorities, and to the Ghana Chamber of Mines for helping to sponsor the project.

Statistics from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, indicate that the Mining Sector contributes 27 per cent of Government revenue ( domestic tax), and employs about 28,000 people in large scale mining, and about one million people in the small scale sector.