ILLEGAL MINING CREATING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS (PAGE 40)

THE upsurge of small-scale gold mining activities, popularly known as "galamsey" in some communities in the Builsa District of the Upper East Region is posing a great danger not only to the environment, but also the very lives of the people.
The illegal activity, which has for sometime now been practised in the "overseas areas" of the West Mamprusis District of the Northern Region sharing a common boundary with the district, is gradually gaining grounds in the Fumbisi and Kadema communities in the district.
Earlier this year, some of the illegal miners in the "overseas areas" found traces of gold in the district.
The discovery led to a mass movement of miners into Fumbisi with many young men and women in and around the area moving in their numbers to participate in the newly discovered economic activity.
Within a brief period, many mining shafts had been created by individuals. The shafts are sunk both vertically and laterally with the hope of finding gold- bearing rocks for processing.
The environmental degradation associated with those activities dotted all over the place, is unimaginable. Indiscriminate defecation in the area has become the order of the day.
At this year’s People’s Assembly at Sandema, the District Chief Executive for Builsa, Mr Thomas Alonsi, said the activities of the miners had been brought to the attention of the Regional Environmental Protection Agency whose officials had visited the area and produced a comprehensive report on the environmental effects of the activities of the miners.
He stated that the attention of the Regional Officer of the Mineral Commission had also been drawn to the development in the area.
According to Mr Alonsi, the officer had already visited the area and promised that he would take the appropriate measures to get the activities of the miners streamlined in line with the law on small scale mining activities.
He stated that the small-scale mining activities was creating tension between interested factions in Fumbisi and other communities, which had the potential of degenerating into a violent conflict.
Mr Alonsi indicated that the District Security Committee had held several meetings in connection with the problems associated with the mining activity in a bid to find lasting solutions to the challenges.
"When the issue was becoming intractable, the committee took the decision to set up a task force, comprising representatives of the police, the Fire Service and the District Assembly to stop the small-scale mining activities and flush out all the miners from the Fumbisi site," he said.
According to him, the assembly had so far spent a little over GH¢1,100 on the activities of the task force.
The DCE, however, noted that the recurring activities of the illegal miners had become a headache for the district, especially in the Kadema area, adding that apart from the devastation being caused to the environment, there had been numerous accidents at the site leading to needless loss of human lives.
He disclosed that the number of reported deaths from Kadema sites stood at six, with the latest of those accidents occurring on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, when a mine caved in and killed four people.
Mr Alonsi, therefore, appealed to the Regional Security Council, (REGSEC) to assist the District Security Committee (DISEC) to stem the tide, to avoid the rate of loss of lives and the destruction to the environment through the activities of the illegal miners.
Mr Alonsi also urged opinion leaders, who he alleged were conniving and colliding with those illegal miners to cause havoc on the environment, to desist from the negative practice or have themselves to blame.
Checks at the Bolgatanga office of the Mineral Commission, indicated that all efforts at streamlining the activities of the miners at Kadema had not yielded any positive result largely because the district assembly was yet to submit an application to the office for further processing.
The Assistant District Mines Officer, Mr Wilson Waanab Zoogah, told this reporter that upon receiving the complaints, the district assembly was advised to put in an application.
He added that even though the land had been demarcated and a site plan produced, the assembly was yet to return the application for further processing in Accra.
"Once we receive the application forms from the assembly, it will be forwarded to Accra for further processing," Mr Zoogah said.
It is hoped that considering the fast rate at which the land in some communities in the Builsa District is being destroyed through the search of minerals, the necessary steps would be taken in time to halt the wanton degradation of the environment and the untimely deaths being recorded.