Gov’t to Provide Small-Scale Miners with Uniforms, ID Cards

A member of the inter-ministerial committee on mining, Charles Bissiw has said the new mining concession agreement will provide all legal small-scale miners with identification cards and uniforms.

He said the committee will make sure that at the end of the new registration, government will know how many concessions there are in each district, how many excavators they have there and the number of miners there.

Speaking about the registration of the new mining concession by government on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Thursday, 4 October 2018, Mr Bissiw said the miners have suggested to government to give them unique uniforms for identification purposes.

In addition to the uniforms, Mr Bissiw said government will give every miner an ID card with a digitised bar code, a unique number and a TIN number.

He also said every miner would be insured.

“So when we come to the site and you don’t have licence it means that you do not have to be there, you can’t go and bring any foreigner for galamsey, every miner before going back to the mining site will have insurance. If you are a miner and something happens to you on site, there is insurance, so the future of their children is secured,” Mr Bissiw stated.

He advised the miners and mining companies to adhere to the mining regulations or risk losing their licence.

“The minerals beneath the surface of the earth belong to the state, the licence given to the companies can be withdrawn at any time [if they flout the rules],” he stated.

The Akufo-Addo-led government since March 2017 has banned all small-scale mining across the country.

The inter-ministerial committee on mining was set up to deal with the menace of illegal small-scale mining in the country. The committee is currently working on a road map to lift the ban on small-scale mining.