Mining Pollution: Large corporations equally responsible – WACAM

The Associate Executive Director of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining( WACAM), Hannah Owusu Koranteng has posited that activities of both small and large scale mining firms alike are responsible for the pollution of the environment.

According to her, the classification of miners does not matter in Ghana’s fight against the pollution associated with mining, “but the new form of mining, surface mining is the problem”.

“There was a time I said both small and big companies alike are involved in galamsey because they all gather and sell. Pollution associated with mining is not a problem caused by small scale miners alone but large mining companies also contribute to it. In our current case, surface mining is the problem”, she stated.

She revealed that some of these companies have the requisite licenses to operate alright but end up moving into restricted land when they are not breaking even.

“They keep shifting from palce to place and though they have the license to mine, their actions become illegal and destroys the pristine environment. As we speak today there are corporate entities mining in protected forests”.

On her authority, the added problem of surface mining is worrying “as this will not conserve our environment”.

She made this known in an interview on e.TV Ghana’s Fact Sheet show hosted by Samuel Eshun.

Hannah noted that the consequences of surface mining is well known globally. “If you surface mine, you expose heavy metals in the earth crust and once there is leaching, acid formation is triggered and that leaks into and pollutes the clean environment. Surface mining is the problem now”, she reiterated.

On her accord, surface mining in particular destroys the integrity of water bodies especially “and this act is not carried out by small scale miners alone”.

Illegal miners and small scale miners have been blamed for the destruction of arable farmlands and water bodies in Ghana with an exemption being made for large corporations.

However, recent developments in the fight agaisnt illegal mining and its associated dangers have taken a holistic approach, with all stakeholders being roped in.