The Association of Small Scale Miners is asking the government to let illegal miners, caught mining in forest reserves recover the property and grow new trees before leaving.
The party argues that the government does not bear the risk of reclaiming lands in forest reserves that have been lost as a consequence of illicit mining activities.
Godwin Armah, the General Secretary of the Association of Small Scale Miners, announced this on Eyewitness News, praising the government for ordering all individuals and corporations prospecting or conducting reconnaissance in forest reserves to stop until further notice.
The government released the circular on Thursday, asking people who are prospecting in forest reserves around the country to stop doing so indefinitely.
It also informed the Minerals Commission not to process or approve any requests for prospecting license renewals in forest reserves.
“Persons and/or corporations engaging in reconnaissance and/or prospecting in Forest Reserves, with or without legal permission, are hereby directed to suspend those operations until further notice by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources…
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has also ordered the Minerals Commission, with immediate effect, not to approve, process, or suggest the award of reconnaissance and prospecting licences in Forest Reserves, including their renewal and/or extension,” according to a statement from the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry.
The unauthorized miners must not be able to leave the sites without reclaiming the property, according to Godwin Armah.
“Those who do not have any kind of permission and are doing it unlawfully must quit right away. I propose that the machinery, especially those engaged in alluvial mining in the forest reserve, be halted, and that they reclaim the land and engage in some kind of afforestation before leaving, but even though they remove their machines, the pits would remain. Should the government go through the trouble of covering the pits of those that worked secretly but didn’t pay taxes? He said, “I would urge the minister to include the security forces in reclaiming the property.”
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He also urged the government to exercise caution in enforcing the order, especially because there are those who are legally permitted to conduct prospecting in forest reserves.
Although those discovered to be working unlawfully must be automatically halted, those found to be prospecting lawfully in forest reserves must be momentarily stopped and permitted to return to work as quickly as possible, he said.
“Some are in the forest reserves without any kind of permission at all, because it’s like boxing the two together, so those who have been through the procedure of obtaining a license to go into mining or prospecting, the government has to write to them formally to tell them to stop…
Mr. Armah believes that there should be a way to encourage them to prospect.
Meanwhile, Benjamin Aryee, the Mining Advisor to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, says the plan for illicit miners in forest reserves to recover their property before leaving is “fair.”
He went on to say that those individuals could face extra penalties.
Mr. Aryee stated that the government would provide money to ensure that the current guideline is followed to the letter.
SOURCE: ATLFMONLINE
