It was needless to ban legal small scale mining- GNSMA

Director of Operations for the Ghana National Small Scale Miners Association, Emmanuel Yirenkyi Antwi has reiterated that the ban slammed on all forms of small scale mining in the country, by government, as a mechanism to sanitize the sector, was needless.

In his view government and other allied agencies could have protected the legitimate small scale mining firms, whilst it worked at clamping down on illegal ones.

“We could have still gone ahead to introduce community mining without banning licensed small scale mining. We could have still gone ahead to fight illegal small scale mining without banning licensed small scale mining. We could have still gone ahead and catch those engaged in alluvial mining with the support of the small scale miners without banning licensed small scale mining, where we’ve had counts of collapses businesses, lives among others” he cried.

Sharing some perspectives on the impact the two years ban has had on the lives of operators, Mr Yirenkyi Antwi said the losses are immeasurable.

“We have less than 15 percent of our members active in the sector. People have lost their investments” he stressed.

He made these comments in an exclusive interview with on the Jolly Breakfast Show, this morning.