The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Obuasi West, Hon Faustilove Appiah Kannin, has called on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to establish a Community Mining Scheme in parts of the AngloGold Ashanti concession as a sustainable solution to the persistent menace of illegal mining in the municipality.
According to her, despite repeated security operations to flush out illegal miners from degraded lands, many of the operators continue to return, making enforcement efforts difficult and undermining environmental restoration programmes.
Speaking during a site inspection by the Ashanti Regional Reclamation Committee, the MCE revealed that AngloGold Ashanti in 2018 released about 100 hectares of land to the Obuasi community for agricultural purposes.
However, portions of the land have since been invaded by illegal miners, causing extensive environmental degradation.
She observed that although security agencies have succeeded in driving illegal miners away on several occasions, they often return to the same locations shortly after the operations.
Mrs. Appiah Kannin therefore appealed to the Ministry to formalise sections of the concession under a Community Mining Scheme to provide legal and regulated mining opportunities for local youth.
She argued that integrating local miners into a regulated framework would not only reduce illegal mining activities but also ensure compliance with environmental standards while creating sustainable livelihoods.
The MCE made the appeal during an inspection of illegal mining sites by the Ashanti Regional Reclamation Committee, comprising representatives from National Security, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Minerals Commission and the Minerals Development Fund (MDF), ahead of a major land reclamation exercise.
The inspection also led to the recovery of three excavators that had earlier been disabled during an anti-galamsey operation but were secretly repaired and reactivated by illegal miners near the Obuasi Airport.
The Ashanti Regional Deputy Security Coordinator, Alhaji Abdullah Umaru Nje, said the incident had exposed the need for stricter enforcement measures, adding that all machinery seized during future anti-illegal mining operations would be immediately removed from mining sites to prevent their reuse.
He noted that the planned reclamation project would restore degraded lands and subsequently engage local communities in managing plantations of economic crops on the reclaimed areas to promote sustainable environmental management.
