Minister meets with Chamber of Mines

A six-member delegation from the Chamber of Mines, led by its President, Johan Ferreira, called on the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Akwasi Opong-Fosu in Accra.

Mr Ferreira said Ghana is endowed with minerals particularly gold which ought to be properly harnessed and promised that his outfit would support the Ministry to help address some of the environmental challenges the mining sector is faced with.

He said the mining sector is a biggest sector that contributes about 68 per cent of Ghana’s revenue although the menace of illegal mining has given a wrong image of the sector.

Mr Ferreira said the Chamber of Mines is passionate about the environment and that it would ensure that mining companies comply with the rules and regulations in the country which is the best practice anywhere in the world to protect the ecology.

He commended the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the introduction of Akoben System that seeks to bring some level of sanity in the environment sector, adding: “Over the past five years some of the mining companies have been doing well as a result of the checking system.”

The President said looking at the huge responsibilities in the mining sector, which include issuance of permit, the EPA was under resourced to operate effectively and that there is the need to look critically at its human resource capacity to enhance their performance.

He appealed to the Minister to look into the intended increase of Reclamation Bond from 10 per cent to about 40 per cent with the mining companies expected to deposit the percentage of their capital to reclaim the land in event of default or closure of the company.

According to him, the increment is too much to bear and suggested that the money be invested instead of the bond, adding: “When we invest it, it will be better.”

Mr Opong-Fosu noted that the issues raised were important and that the ministry would take a look a second looked to address them.

He asked the chamber of mines to write to the ministry with time lines, saying some of the issues would involve chiefs and stakeholders on the way forward which would raise awareness.