As part of efforts to regulate small scale mining in the country in order to deal with the illegal ones (Galamsey), the government is aggressively revamping the Community Mining Scheme (CMS) across the country, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has said.
He said the government is convinced that one of the tools needed to regulate the sector is the CMS.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday October 13, the Damongo Lawmaker explained that this type of mining takes into account concerns of the environment and also adheres to the protocols of environmental preservations.
He said “we are aggressively revamping Community Mining Scheme across the country. We have come to the firm conclusion that one of the tools we should deploy in order to be able to regulate the industry of small scale mining is the community mining scheme.
“When I say Community Mining Scheme I am talking about Community Mining Scheme which has regard to the environment and which adherers to the strict protocols of environmental perseverations. Those are the community mining schemes we are rolling out and we are really moving forward with them. They are supposed to be owned by the Communities.”
Recently, the Presidency announced that 82,000 jobs have been created out of the CMS.
Out of this number, 60,000 direct jobs and 22,800 indirect jobs have been created, the seat of government, the Jubilee House, further stated.
In a tweet, the Jubilee House said “There have been 82,800 jobs created out of the 15 legal CMS, including 60,000 direct jobs and 22,800 indirect jobs. —Through legal mining, the government will keep adding jobs.”
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) expressed optimism that this initiative will deal with the illegal small Scale mining (Galamsey) menace.