Mined land properly reclaimed and rehabilitated can be used to undertake agricultural activities, thereby ensuring the food security of the country, a mining engineer, Papa K.A. Empeh, has said.
He said responsible mining would ensure food security once it was effectively monitored.
"If a mining company comes in to mine and after mining did not reclaim the land or put the land back to what it was, then we cannot be assured of food security because we cannot reuse the land," he said.
Mr Empeh said this on the sidelines after he presented a paper on the topic: "Beyond the Pit: The Cost of Gold to Ghana's Farmlands Food Security," at a public lecture organised by the Accra Technical University (ATU) in Accra last Friday.
The event formed part of the 10th anniversary of the institution's transition from a polytechnic to a technical university.
It was also used to launch an endowment fund for the ATU.
Going forward into the future, Mr Empeh said gold exploration and food security would have to go hand in hand given the immense value beneath the earth.
He said the two had to co-exist since there was so much value beneath the land.
Restore
Mr Empeh said that after mining, one could restore the land and gave an example at the Damang Mine where the tailings dump had been rehabilitated and the land was being used to grow oil palm, coconut and mangoes.
"So where they have dumped the barren materials, they have actually rehabilitated it, planted material and it is feeding the community.
"Can Ghana have both? The answer is yes, if we embark on responsible mining. If we have good closure plans, we can mine, extract what is beneath that revenue, have that benefit and then also rehabilitate the land for use," he said.
He said before undertaking mining, there should be a lot of dialogue even before licensing.
He said people who went through the rigorous process of acquiring a license must prove all their rehabilitation plans.
Partnership
He, therefore, underscored the need for university and industry partnership in that direction.
"We have seen larger companies, larger mines embarking on rehabilitation closure plans that we believe work.
This is where institutions such as the ATU also come in to have independent testing and then publish these results so that we know," he said.
He emphasised that there could be mining and food security if they were well planned through rehabilitation to restore the land.
Essential foundation
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, in a speech read on his behalf, said technical and vocational institutions were no longer alternative pathways in education and that they were essential foundations for building a productive, innovative and self-reliant nation.
The Board Chairman of the GCB Bank, Prof. Joshua Alabi, who chaired the event, said the transition was historic and "we are all proud of the institution".
The Vice-Chancellor of the ATU, Prof. Amevi Acakpovi, said the institution was committed to strengthening applied research and participatory collaboration in ensuring responsible mining practices.
