Sep 11, 2012 at 7:11pm

The Ghana Chamber of Mines has challenged relevant stakeholders to clamp down heavily on the operations of illegal small scale miners in the country.

The operations of these illegal small scale miners have over the years been a detriment, not only to the communities in which they operate, but to human lives as well.

About 300 people in 2011 were reported dead last year because of the illegal small scale gold mining activities or ‘galamsey’ in Ghana.

In an interview with Citi Business News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Toni Aubynn was of the view that small scale mining should be conducted in a regulated manner.

“Small scale mining need not be illegal, but need to be done properly. As a country, we need to support those who have started properly. The law must, however, clamp down on those doing it illegally.”

Dr Aubynn also accused the illegal small scale miners of using chemicals such as cyanide and mercury at the expense of mining communities.

He said: “The small scale mining organizations we see here are not controlled by anyone. They use mercury or cyanide in their mining activities. We did some research on fatalities caused by cyanide in mining and throughout the world; you wouldn’t get 10 deaths coming from cyanide because good care is taken whenever it is used.”



By: Citifmonline.com/Ghana