Ghana will begin issuing mining licences at district level under its new Minerals and Mining Act, Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah announced at the launch of the Ellembelle Cooperative Mining Societies at Nkroful. Licence applications will start in the district where a company wants to operate, ending the practice of travelling to Accra to pursue approvals. Six cooperatives were launched in the Ellembelle district: Nkroful-Atomic, Kikam, Salma, Asanda, Bomoakpole and Nzema-Akropong.
The reform pairs local licensing with formalisation. Cooperative mining is the government’s chosen replacement for galamsey, the illegal small scale mining that has damaged land and rivers over the past decade. The minister told the cooperatives to mine responsibly within their concessions, to set aside a share of proceeds for land reclamation and community development, and warned against trespassing into illegal workings. Under the new Act, mining companies will also sign Community Development Agreements with host communities inside their leases.
The Minerals Commission will supervise compliance. Deputy chief executive Joseph Anyimiah said the Commission would ensure the cooperatives operate within the Act’s regulations, and district chief executive Joseph Armah Agyekum backed the land and river protection aims at the launch.
Jurisdiction watch: Ghana is formalising small scale gold mining at the same moment many West African states are tightening state control over large mines. The district model is the opposite instinct, pushing licensing closer to the ground to compete with illegality. Its risk is the mirror image: district committees with local political exposure will now make licensing decisions the centre used to make, and the Minerals Commission’s supervisory capacity will decide whether standards hold.