Minerals Commission inaugurates taskforce

The Minerals Commission has inaugurated the newly-reconstituted industrial minerals task force with a call on members to stick to the rules and avoid compromises.

The Chief Inspector of Mines, Obiri Yeboah Twumasi, explained that the reconstitution of the task force had become necessary because of the inability of the old task force to perform its duties. The newly-reconstituted task force, which is different from the presidential task force, is made up of members of the sand winners association, stone quarry association and tipper truck drivers association.

The task force had been drawn from all the major outlets of the Minerals Commission located at Accra, Takorase (Eastern Region), Kumasi and Takoradi.

According to Mr. Twumasi, it was sad to notice that almost all those in the industrial mining industry were seriously flouting the rules.

The task force is mainly to ensure that people involved in sand winning, stone quarrying and the like did not flout rules governing their work.

Joseph Frimpong, Senior Mines Inspector, Minerals Commission, cited winning outside concession boundaries, illegal allotment of land, false area declaration of site plan, and lack or compensation or inadequate compensation for people whose lands might have been used for industrial mining, as some of the challenges facing the work of the Commission.

He appealed to operators to desist from working close to streams and rivers, national assets like power pylons, railways, among others.