By: Maltiti Sayida Sadick
Ghana has been repositioned as the African continent’s largest gold producer in the face of the battle to rid the country’s water bodies of illegal mining, popularly called ‘galamsey, and reintegrate the miners into forming legal community mining bodies and companies working under a proper licensing regime.
The other bane of the industrialisation of the country has to do with state-of-the-art technology and equipment that can harness the vast natural resources, which include great mineral reserves, into finished quality products for export that bring in considerable revenue to build railway systems, road infrastructure, and health facilities meant to better the livelihoods of the people.
Speaking at a UK-Africa Ministerial Roadshow on industrial decarbonisation and achieving net zero, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said it is crucial that partnerships are fostered with like-minded investors who uphold the global conventions of sustainable environment and climate action as they exploit the natural resources, including tapping into other ways of generating energy for industrial use to transform Ghana’s economy.
He added that government has recently provided ‘gold kacha, which are operated without the use of mercury in mining for gold, diamonds, and bauxite, and introduced proper mining schemes and regulations.
On the world’s leaning towards using renewable energy such as electric vehicles instead of fuel or diesel cars, he touted Ghana’s potential to jump on it looking at the large lithium reserves the country has, propelling government to put in place the green minerals policy.
Present from Mauritius was the Minister of Environment, Solid Waste Management, and Climate Change, Kavydass Ramano, and from Ethiopia was the Minister of Mines, Habtamu Tegegn, who all joined the clarion call from officials in the UK Government and African Governments for the formidable relationship and opportunities the commonwealth provided to be rekindled for the collective growth of Africa and the UK.
