The Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) has intensified its community sensitisation drive in the Western Region with visits to mining communities in Tarkwa-Nsuaem and Prestea Huni Valley.
At Badukrom in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, residents expressed interest in an abandoned mining pit in their community. They appealed to the government to negotiate with Goldfields to release the land to them for cooperative mining as a means of reducing unemployment.
In Bankyim, the Coordinator of rCOMSDEP, Engineer Frank Pedro Asare, and his team sensitised miners on the importance of responsible mining practices. He emphasised that health, safety, and environmental protection should guide all mining operations.
“If we want to mine and still preserve our lives and environment, then health, safety, and the environment must be key,” he noted.
Engineer Asare also disclosed that the government was considering a review of the mining licensing regime in response to community concerns that most concessions belong to large mining companies.
“Currently, mining licences can run for up to 30 years. We are considering reforms to reduce it to 15 years so that communities can also have access to mine responsibly,” he explained.
The rCOMSDEP team also visited the Brahabobom mining site in Tarkwa-Nsuaem and the Apinto community mining site in Prestea Huni Valley.
At both mining sites, Engineer Asare observed that the absence of a proper mining processing plant posed environmental risks as miners wash ore in scattered places, polluting streams. He recommended the provision of a process plant to improve operations.
“There is the need to have a mining plant on the site. That will enable the ore to be washed and gold extracted in a responsible way, rather than washing at different places where water ends up in streams and pollutes them,” he said.
Workers at the site welcomed the proposal, noting that such an intervention would help them mine more responsibly and protect the environment.
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