The Need to Regularise Activities of Illegal Small-Scale Mining in Ghana: A Focus on the Tarkwa-Dunkwa Highway*
- 1
- 2
Abstract
Southwest Ghana is a major gold producing region. The current high gold price has attracted hundreds of unemployed youth to undertake small-scale mining (SSM). Most of these miners operate illegally even though the SSM law (PNDCL) 218 of 1989 and Act 703 of 2006 define the procedures required for their operation. Some miners have brought their activities to a segment of the western highway that links southwest to central Ghana with serious environmental consequences envisaged. This paper argues that the laws that regulate SSM do not consider the fundamental set-up and concerns of the small-scale miner, hence its inability to be effective. It is therefore proposed that the present requirement that a minimum of 21 hectares is necessary before land can be registered needs re-examination. Secondly, government needs to explore parcels of land and designate the workable areas to miners under a well structured scheme that will also educate these miners about safe and healthy mining methods.
- N. R. Junner, “Gold in the Gold Coast. Gold Coast Geological Survey,” Memoir, Vol. 4, 1935, p. 67.
- Anon, “Minerals and Mining Law,” Act 703 of Parliament of Ghana, 2006, p. 59.
- Anon, “Minerals and Mining Law,” PNDCL, Vol. 153, 1986, pp. 1-36.
- Anon, “Small-Scale Gold Mining Law,” PNDCL, Vol. 218, 1989, pp. 1-5.
- T. Aubynn, Personal communications, 2009.
- Anon, “Environmental Impact Assessment of Small- Scale Mining in Ghana,” Final Report by NSR Environmental Consultants, Victoria, Australia for Minerals Commission of Ghana, 1993, p. 101
- K. B. Dickson and G. Benneh, “A New Geography of Ghana,” Longman, England, 1995, p. 170
- A. Leube, W. Hirdes, R. Mauer and G. O. Kesse, “The Early Proterozoic Birimian Supergroup of Ghana and Some Aspects of Its Associated Gold Mineralisation,” Precambrian Research, Vol. 46, No. 1-2, January 1990, pp. 139-165.
- N. R. Junner, “Geology of the Gold Coast and Western Togoland,” Gold Coast Geological Survey Bulletin, Vol. 16, 1940, p. 40
- B. N. Eisenlohr and W. Hirdes, “The Structural Development of the Early Proterozoic Birimian and Tarkwaian Rocks in Southwest Ghana, West Africa,” Journal of African Earth Sciences, Vol. 14, No. 3, April 1992, pp. 313-325.
- S. D. Barritt and J. S. Kuma, “Constrained Gravity Models and Structural Evolution of the Ashanti Belt, SW, Ghana,” Journal of African Earth Sciences, Vol. 26, No. 4, May 1998, pp. 539-550.
- G. O. Kesse, “The Mineral and Rock Resources of Ghana,” Balkema, Rotterdam, 1985, p. 615
- N. R. Junner, T. Hirst and H. Service, “The Tarkwa Goldfield,” Gold Coast Geological Survey Memoir, Vol. 6, 1942, pp. 48-55.
- V. A. Temeng and J. K. Abew, “A Review of Alternative Livelihood Projects in Some Mining Communities in Ghana,” European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2009, pp. 217-228.
- K. Dzigbodi-Adzimah, “Environmental Concerns of Ghana’s Gold Booms: Past Present and Future,” Ghana Mining Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1996, pp. 21-26.
- K. Dzigbodi-Adzimah and S. Bansah, “Current Developments in Placer Gold Exploration in Ghana: Time and Financial Considerations,” Exploration and Mining Geology, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1995, pp. 297-306.
- Anon, “Cost Estimates for Asphaltic Overlay on Lagos Avenue Road,” Department of Urban Roads and Highways, Accra, 2009, p. 4.