Government has disbanded all Community Mining Schemes with immediate effect.
Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, announced this during a news briefing in Accra on Wednesday.
The Minister said all the existing Community Mining Schemes were only in name although the basis for their establishment was to benefit the community.
In that regard, the Minister said, the Community Mining Schemes would be replaced with Mining Cooperatives after due diligence had been conducted with the involvement of the community members so that the people would be properly represented.
The decision to disband the Community Mining Schemes follows an interim report issued by an 18-member Working Committee set up by government last month to review the current licensing regime and recommend a comprehensive strategy to tackle the illegal mining menace.
The Minister said the Working Committee’s findings indicated that although the Mining Schemes were to benefit the local communities; however, “this is not the case”.
Meanwhile, the government had revoked all small-scale mining licenses granted after December 7, 2024, by the immediate past government.
To that end, the government had set up a Technical Small-Scale Mining Review Committee to review and validate all existing small-scale mining licenses.
Members of the Committee would have representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Minerals Commission, Forestry Commission, Water Resources Commission and Attorney-General’s Office.
The Committee would be chaired by the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Yusif Sulemana, and to be deputised by a Director from the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology.
The Lands Minister said the current licensing regime was fraught with so many challenges, hence, the establishment of the Technical Review Committee to review all existing small-scale licenses.
On the terms of reference, Mr Armah-Kofi Buah said, the Committee was supposed to audit all licenses to ensure they were properly acquired, due process was followed and met all conditions of continuous validity with respect to environmental protection, safeguarding water bodies, forest reserves, and land preservation standards.
It is also to ensure that all permitting fees have been paid in full.
The committee has two months to carry out its assignment and report to the Ministry.
“All licensees are expected to cooperate and subject their documentation to this exercise within this period. All those who failed to go through this process will have their licenses revoked,” the Minister warned.
Mr. Armah-Kofi Buah announced that the ministries of Lands and Natural Resources, and Environment, Science and Technology were working together to establish a new classification for the Small-Scale Mining regime.
GNA
