Tony Aubyn: Let’s redefine small scale mining
The former CEO of the Minerals Commission believes small scale mining must be redefined to help tackle the menace of illegal mining
- "We need to come up with the real definition of small scale mining. It only talks about who is qualified to do it, what is the size of land required to do that and the fact that you must not be a foreigner and all that."
Dr Tony Aubyn, a former chief executive officer of the Minerals Commission is advocating for the redefinition of small scale mining in a bid to help sanitise the sector.
Speaking on The Forum, a current affairs and news analysis programme on Asaase Radio with Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Aubyn said the current definition of small scale mining leaves gaps that can be exploited for illegal mining.
“We need to come up with the real definition of small scale mining. It only talks about who is qualified to do it, what is the size of land required to do that and the fact that you must not be a foreigner and all that.
“We need to also recategorise it to ensure that there is a mid-tier, if you have a group that are brought together that constitutes another band, you can control them better than the way it is done haphazardly, everyone is somewhere and all that.”
Deploy advance technology
Dr Aubyn wants the introduction of other advance technology apart from drones to help solve the menace of illegal mining in a holistic manner .
“And then we need to use technology because using human intervention is always fraught with challenges. We know it, so we need to use technology when it is necessary to intervene and we need to introduce serious technology in solving the problem,” he said.
“Not the technology of drone, because I have an issue with the drone, the drone only flies in to tell you that here are people doing galamsey that’s all, it doesn’t stop them, it just goes to give you the information, that information can be hatched by one instance,” he added.
National solution
Touching on the two-day consultative conference on small scale mining, the former CEO of the Minerals Commission called for depoliticisation of illegal mining in order for stakeholders to come out with a solution that will be in the national interest.
“The dialogue may have actually highlighted the fact that the issue of small scale and illegal mining is still with us but the information to solving the problem is already there, and we should look at it, and we should look at it dispassionately, depoliticise in a way that when we have a solution it is a national solution and not a sectional solution.”
Fred Dzakpata
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
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