President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the government will not relent in its efforts to flush out individuals whose activities cause degradation to the environment, especially the forest and water bodies.
According to him, the government will continue to deploy appropriate measures needed to help protect and safeguard the environment.
Speaking in Accra at the commissioning of one hundred (100) Mercury-free mining processing equipment known as Gold Kacha, the President explained that his government’s vision is to ensure that mining activities are done in a clean manner to ensure a sustainable environment worthy of bequeathing to future generations.
Outlining the government’s vision of ensuring safe and sustainable mining in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo noted that 300 more of the Gold Kacha equipment will be acquired to support small-scale miners through the “Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme” for small scale miners.
He also assured the mining community that his government is not against small-scale mining but mining that destroys the environment.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that Gold Kacha has the capacity to ensure 90% of gold recovery with mercury-free equipment processes at a high level compared with other methods that recover just about 30-35% of gold.
According to him, he believes Gold Kacha equipment will help create more jobs while ensuring sanity in the mining sector and can also process sand, clay, and hard rock.
He mentioned that the modular nature of the mining machine allows for different modules to be added to expand as the need arises.
This, he said, allows the miners to gain a return on investment.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, noted that the government is making efforts to make Ghana the mining hub of Africa, adding that Gold Kacha will ensure safe mining.
The Minister also announced that a ban has been put on the use of chanfan in mining activities as part of measures to preserve water bodies.
The mining plants are said to have an incredible level of efficiency as a test in June 2020 in the Prestea-Huni Valley district of the Western region showed that a miner had a threshold increase in a day from 12 pounds of gold to about 32 pounds. The use of Mercury in mining puts communities at risk of impacts from permanent brain damage to seizures, vision and hearing loss as well as delayed childhood development.
READ MORE: