The Hon. Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh has visited the Ghana Manganese Company at Nsuta and Ghana Bauxite Company at Awaso in the Western and Western North Regions.
The Minister’s field visit enabled him to among other things ascertain the progress being made by the companies, following the directive by government for mining companies to undergo some Auditing Processes.
The Hon. Minister and his entourage were impressed by the progress being made by the Ghana Bauxite and the Manganese companies but added that there is the need for the companies to increase local content especially with regards to employment of Ghanaian nationals.
The Minister accompanied by his Deputy in charge of Mines, Hon. Naana Eyiah, said government will continue to support mining companies to do mining in a responsible and sustainable manner.
The Minister and his entourage also visited Canada and Ghana, C & G Alaska mining company in the Juabo forest of the Western North Region, where some illegal miners have invaded portions of the forest.
The team were also not impressed about the kind of mining operations undertaken by C & G Alaska following claims by them that it undertook reclamation exercise after any mine of which the picture on the ground was different.
The Hon. Minister, Asomah-Cheremeh and his entourage rounded their two-day working visit at the Apaparama forest reserve in the Ashanti Region where he was taken round the forest to see for himself some attempts by some mining group/ company to mine in the forest without any operating permit. He cautioned that government is determined to ensure that no individual or groups of persons deplete the forest
