The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Sulemana Yusif, has revealed that only 360 of over 1,278 mining licenses vetted are without challenges.
This is among the findings of a nine-member Small-Scale Mining License Review Committee established by the ministry.
The Deputy Minister, who chaired the committee, ascribed various reasons for the rejection of the majority of the licenses.
“Only 360 didn’t have problems, the rest we will be able to raise issues with them,” he stated.
Mr. Yusif was speaking at the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs when the Ministry joined the Minerals Commission for deliberations on the review of the Mining and Minerals Acts 703.
According to him, the findings of the committee are yet to be presented to the sector Minister for action to be taken on it.
In April this year, the nine-member committee was mandated to scrutinize licenses to ensure compliance with legal, environmental, and financial regulations.
Key areas of the review included ensuring due processes in license acquisition, ensuring that they meet all conditions of continuous validity with respect to environmental standards – water bodies, forest reserves, and land preservation – as well as full payment of licensing permit fees.
By the completion of the committee’s work, it is expected that concrete steps will be taken to sanitize the small-scale mining sector to yield interest to the country.
Already, the Ministry has announced the revocation of all small-scale mining licenses issued after the 2024 general elections.
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