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Community Mining Programme launched at Wassa Akropong

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has launched the Community Mining Programme (CPM) at Wassa Akropong in the Western Region.
The CPM is aimed at formalising mining in selected communities across the country to encourage safe and responsible mining in those communities.

The initiative aims to set up at least one community mine in each of the mining districts in the country where all miners will work under supervision and according to mining regulations.

The government anticipates that the community mines will provide employment for more than 4,500 miners who have been trained by the government at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa.

Launch

Launching the pilot programme at Wassa Akropong in the Amenfi East District, President Akufo-Addo stated that the CPM would ensure that “mining will be done the right way, within the tenets of the law and will not destroy our natural resources”.

“Today, we are launching a type of mining that will benefit all of us. I am here to plead with the young men who are participating in the community mining to do their best to adhere to all the laws and do a good job, so that money will return to Wassa Amenfi. The money will come,” he added.

The President gave an assurance that the programme would be replicated in other towns by September this year and would be closely monitored to ensure that the standards that had been set for the CMP were adhered to.

The programme

Under the new programme, miners will be provided with personal protective clothing, a controlled work area, equipment, ore milling machines and reflectors, all under a shed, to enable them to mine in a safe manner, unlike the previous hazardous adventures.

The Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, indicated that the Minerals Commission had zoned out sections in each of the mining districts for that purpose, with some traditional authorities also providing land for the CMP.

He noted that a number of large-scale mining companies had demarcated areas to be used for the CMP and that between now and September concessions for the various CMPs would be mapped out by the IMCIM Mapping Team and uploaded onto the GalamStop software, an application developed to monitor and check illegal mining.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng stressed that canoes fitted with outboard motors had been procured for the riverine team to monitor the water bodies.

“With the rolling out of the CMP, there should be no excuse whatsoever for miners to be mining illegally in water bodies,” he added.

Western Region

The Omanhene of the Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area, Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II, commended the President for the programme and said issues regarding those who had a clear intention to go into mining genuinely but had difficulty accessing concessions or going through the registration and documentation processes should be looked at.

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