Africa centre to promote legal and sustainable small-scale mining (ACMMSD) in Ghana launched

The Africa Centre for Minerals, Mining, and Sustainable Development (ACMMSD), a Centre with the purpose of promoting legal and sustainable mining, especially small-scale mining of minerals in Ghana has been launched in Accra.

In a press release to mark the launch, the Executive Secretary of the Centre, Edwin Letsa K. Kpedor underscored the importance of the Centre in ensuring stakeholders in the extractive sector understand and adopt sustainable means in the mining of minerals to ensure our environment is protected, preserved, and re-claimed following successful small-scale mining activities.

“In our communities today, we are experiencing the negative effects of illegal and unsustainable mining practices on our water bodies, forests, farms, and communities. Therefore, the focus of the Centre is to support stakeholders engaged in the regulation, supervision, and small-scale mining of minerals to adopt new sustainable practices to ensure we reverse the current trends of environmental degradation, water bodies pollution, and forest destruction as being witnessed across our mining communities.”

He further noted that the role of the Centre will be to “coordinate the practical implementation of legal and sustainable mining solutions and consolidate interventions that seek to promote sustainable livelihoods, particularly for women and young people in the mining communities across Ghana”.

The release further noted that the Centre is committed to harnessing resources to drive the regulation and supervision, advocacy, training, support, and stakeholder engagements across the various mining communities especially in the Ashanti, Eastern, Central, and West-North regions of Ghana.

“Our initial assessment of the small-scale mining regime across the country revealed these regions are the hotspots for illegal (galamsey) and unsustainable mining practices and we seek to prioritize our activities in these regions,” Mr. Kpedor noted.

Commenting on the Centre’s planned activities, Richard Nunekpeku, Director for Programmes and Projects noted that, “the Centre will provide direct training and capacity building to key stakeholders such as small-scale miners, traditional authorities, officers of district assemblies and related service providers to improve their knowledge of the use of legal and sustainable mining practices.”

Additionally, the Centre will undertake research and publication, advocacy, engage in policy formulation and provide technical and financial support programmes to small-scale miners in its operational communities.

“Our approach will be to provide comprehensive support services which will help stakeholders to commit fully to the adaptation of sustainable practices that deliver results. We recognize the need to facilitate the availability of legal, regulatory, training, land management, mining, and sustainable community development support programs and are committed to doing these as part of our engagement programmes and initiatives,” Mr. Nunekpeku said.

The Centre has its office at Dzorwulu, Accra.