A socio-environmental advocacy NGO based in the Western Region, the Friends of the Nation (FoN), has urged government to rope in relevant stakeholders in its bid to reduce and eliminate the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining.
This follows Ghana’s ratifying the Minamata Convention on Mercury which is a global treaty to protect people and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
On March 23, 2017, Ghana deposited its instrument of accession to the Minamata Convention, thereby becoming the 40th future party of the convention.
The MGO in a statement noted that, government should “increase collaboration with research, academic institutions, civil society organisations, development partners and miners to improve existing mercury reduction and mercury-free technologies such as the glass retort, and Direct Smelting Methods to make them accessible, cheaper, easy to use and recover more gold.”
It also urged government to formalize small-scale gold mining “by increasing miners’ access to viable lands and better financing, reducing mining licensing procedure.”
The group added that, government could offer further help by “increasing the human and technical resources of the District Offices of the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency to function effectively.”
FoN indicated that, its consultations with stakeholders made it clear that many artisanal & small scale gold miners are willing to regularize their operations and adopt mercury-free technology to extract gold.
“This presents us a great opportunity to increase efforts towards formalization of the sector and maximizing the benefits of Artisanal and Smallscale Gold Mining (ASGM),” the group stated.
Friends of the Nation (FoN) commends the Government of Ghana for ratifying the Minamata Convention on Mercury. This signifies the commitment of the Government to reduce and where feasible eliminate the use of mercury in Artisanal and Smallscale Gold Mining (ASGM) and mercury-added products.
We congratulate the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation and the Environmental Protection Agency and all other stakeholders for this important milestone. It is noteworthy that on March 23, 2017, Ghana deposited its instrument of accession to the Minamata Convention, thereby becoming the 40th future party of the Convention.
As the country prepares its National Action Plan (NAP) on ASGM under the Convention, we call on the Government to adopt a participatory approach to ensure all relevant stakeholders are actively involved in the process.
Currently, FoN is supporting the implementation of the Convention through background research to profile Ghana’s ASGM sector, mobilization of miners and civil society organisations to contribute to the preparation of the National Action Plan and baseline inventory of mercury use in ASGM.
Throughout our stakeholder consultations, it has become clear that many artisanal & smallscale gold miners are willing to regularise their operations and adopt mercury-free technology to extract gold. This presents us a great opportunity to increase efforts towards formalisation of the sector and maximizing the benefits of ASGM.
Against this background, we make the following recommendations to Government:
* Increase collaboration with research, academic institutions, civil society organisations, development partners and miners to improve existing mercury reduction and mercuryfree technologies such as the glass retort and Direct Smelting Methods to make them accessible, cheaper, easy to use and recover more gold.
* Enhance the formalization of the ASGM sector by increasing miners’ access to viable lands and better financing, reducing mining licensing procedure and increasing the human and technical resources of the District Offices of the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency to function effectively.
* Increase public awareness on the impacts of mercury on human health and the environment and the Minamata Convention.
* Improve data collection and monitoring of mercury imports, trade and supply.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
