Small scale mining activities contributed about 30 percent of the 3.6million ounces of gold produced in Ghana last year.

The State however failed to make enough revenue from the activities of small scale mining due to the illegality of some players in the sector.

The Ghana Chamber of Mines therefore wants the significant operations of the smallscale miners to be mainstreamed for the economy to benefit.

Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Dr. Toni Aubynn says whilst it is important to encourage Ghanaians to take part in mining, their operations must be in accordance with the law.

“If foreign investors find it useful to invest in mining, then local investors should also be encouraged to go in, but they should go in according to law… and then government could also have its share of the extraction of resources”, he told Luv Biz Report in an interview.

Environmental degradation and pollution of water bodies through illegal mining operations are some of the challenges the country has had to contend with.

Dr. Aubynn stated that the situation where tax revenue from large-scale mining is used to rehabilitate the destruction caused by galamsey operations should not continue.

“We don’t tax them, they don’t pay royalties, they don’t pay anything and obviously they impact negatively on the environment”, he said.

The Ghana Mineworkers Union has also emphasized that the registration process for small scale miners must be demystified to discourage illegal mining.

General Secretary, Prince William Ankrah told Luv Biz Report a strategic intervention needs to be devised because galamsey creates job openings for people.

“What we can do is to make sure that we launch some serious engagement, see how far we can make them do things more professionally and maybe demystify the registration process, decentralize it to a large extent that they could go out and do the registration, secure some funding to educate them and make sure they can have access to cooperatives as well and we can also assist them with technical know-how and maybe get this thing done in a more professional manner”, he said.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh