The Atewa West District Security Council in the Eastern Region has announced plans to form a specialised mining task force to address the growing menace of illegal mining in the district.
The council, in collaboration with the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is currently compiling certified data on all licensed miners operating within Atewa West.
The new task force will be tasked with enforcing mining regulations, ensuring site reclamation, and cracking down on illegal mining activities, especially those involving foreign nationals.
The taskforce will include personnel from the Ghana Police Service, representatives from the Minerals Commission and EPA, as well as the Ghana Immigration Service, which will handle issues related to foreign nationals involved in galamsey (illegal mining).
Speaking to Channel One News on Thursday, May 29, Amo Anom Johnson, Chairman of the District Security Council (DISEC) and District Chief Executive for Atewa West in the Eastern Region, disclosed the initiative during a site inspection exercise.
“We are doing a mining site audit identifying people who have dug holes and left them, people who have not done the reclamation, and they are leaving them to the mercy of the weather and the assembly to go and fix it.
“If you look at the negative impact that is causing the people living in the district, it is serious, and therefore, there is a need to put up a task force comprising a representative from the EPA, the Minerals Commission, and the security agencies. There are even foreign nationals involved in all this, so we cannot look on as our people being tormented by these illegal mining activities. Reclamation is one point that we are looking at.”
Meanwhile, the EPA has also announced plans to clamp down on all illegal mining activities taking place in the Atewa Forest Reserve and along the Birim and Densu Rivers in the coming months.
According to the EPA, no mining company has been granted permits to operate in those areas. Therefore, any mining activities currently being undertaken in the forest reserve or near these water bodies are illegal and will be halted.
“I can assure you that those who are mining in water bodies will be clamped down on. In the Atewa and Birim rivers, they will be clamped down on in the next few months. We will work with the task force that will be formed as soon as possible.”
