Officials of the UK-Ghana Gold Programme (UKGGP) and the British High Commission, have engaged stakeholders in the mining sector in the Bole District of the Savannah Region on the challenges of mining in the district.
The forum provided the stakeholders an opportunity to discuss the challenges facing the miners on licensing and formalization priorities, and how the Bole District Management Committee and DISEC can be supported to strengthen their regulations as well as monitoring and enforcement roles to stop unregulated artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in the Bole District.
The Bole District has fifteen (15) communities engaged in active mining with only two of them, that is, Dakurpe and Tinga licensed to do community mining.
Speaking in an interview with editors.3news.com, Team Leader of the UKGGP, Chris Aston, expressed concerns over how the Ghanaian government loses out on significant tax revenues from illegal gold mining.
“Reports indicate that over 2billion Dollars in revenue is lost to illegal gold trade which is why we launched the UK-Ghana Gold Programme to see how we can better understand the criminal and foreign exploitation of ASGM.”
“This engagement, has provided an opportunity to understand possible solutions for the elimination of illegalities associated with the small-scale mining sector by increasing community resilience, promoting regulatory reform and supporting law enforcement.”
“There is also the need to understand the licensing issues impacting miners and traders, and get practical solutions, which will strengthen our resolve to continue working with local authority partners in Bole District, and nationally on ASGM regulations reform, to help ensure that gold mining practices are sustainable, safe, and beneficial for the local community.”
Chairman of the forum, Mandariwura Gilbert Iddi, while applauding the UK- Ghana Gold Programme for their advocacy roles and engagement with the relevant stakeholders, called on the programme managers to assist the Bole District Security Committee to prevent crimes and illicit activities in the small-scale mining communities in the Bole District.
“What we should be worried about is the influx of foreign nationals at mining areas who not only buy our gold without paying any taxes, but also are a threat to the security of our country especially in this era of violent extremism,“ he said.
Concerns by miners
For the illegal miners, the difficulty in acquiring a license and lack of support from the central government, is affecting their trade.
“It is not easy acquiring a mining license and since we don’t have the license, the best way is to mine illegally.”
“Currently we don’t have block out areas for local miners and so where we do our mining is where the big companies too want to do prospecting which is raising the tensions, “ he stated.
He appealed to the officials of UK-Ghana Gold Programme to assist them get block outs from government.
Bolewura Sarfo Kutuge Feso (I)
Bolewura Sarto Kutuge Feso (I) expressed the willingness of Traditional authorities to support the UKGGP Programme to ensure that small scale miners acquire licenses to operate, stating that the economy of Bole depends on mining.
“A lot of people are trooping into communities in the traditional area to engage in galamsey which has led to an increase in criminal activities like armed robbery and murders of all kinds in the area.”
Launch of the UK-Ghana Gold Programme
The United Kingdom (UK)- Ghana Gold Programme (UKGGP) which is working
with Ghana Government and other partners was launched on 5th December, 2023 in the Bole District of the Savannah Region.
The new illegal gold-mining program will see the UK and Ghanaian government work together to increase community resilience, promote regulatory reform and support law enforcement.
The three-year initiative will see the UK government commit 3.9 million pounds to complement Ghana’s fight against illegal gold-mining in the Western, Ashanti and Savannah Regions.
