The CEO of the Minerals Commission, Martin Kwaku Ayisi, says that a comprehensive ban on small-scale mining will negatively impact legal operators in the sector.
He stated that the focus should be on regulating unlicensed mining activities rather than imposing a blanket ban on the entire small-scale mining sector.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, he said, “The discussion is about illegal mining. In other words, persons or individuals who don’t have all the authorisation to go and work and they are working, which is illegal.”
“We need to separate it from several others who have obtained licenses and are working. So when you say we should ban small-scale mining lawfully, I have a problem with that,” he added on September 7.
Mr Ayisi noted that, the fundamental issue driving illegal mining is the lack of available, authorised mining sites.
He warned that simply banning mining activities or increasing security measures will not …