The CEO of AC Zenon Hajia Amina Tahiru has appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, protect licensed small-scale miners from the unlicensed ones (Galamsey),
She says that the activities of galamseyers are negatively affecting the legal ones because some people are unable to differentiate between the two.
She said this after the Minisreals Commission cleared her of accusations of engaging in illegal small mining (Galamsey) after she was accused by the youth of Asuom in the Eastern Region of engaging in galamsey.
At a media tour of some concession sites in the area, the Minerals Commission said it is satisfied with the mining license of Madam Hajia because she is rather doing reclamation of a large area of lands under her jurisdiction.
The Eastern Regional Lands Commission who went to inspect her concession confirmed she has obtained mining lease for 13 years to do responsible mining.
“The first most important document is the lease, it is specified 13 years to expire in 2035, She had the prospecting lease and she converted it to a mining lease so she has it,” Emmanuel Asante , Monitoring and Evaluation Officer- Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission in Koforidua, Eastern Region told journalists.
The Asuom community in the Kwaebibirim Municipality has become a den for illegal mining.
The galamseyers, who have been operating in the community for some time, have caused significant damage to the environment, polluting water bodies, destroying crops, and rendering farmlands unusable.
The news team came across several illegal miners including Burkinabes feeding off concessions of owners who are doing legal mining.
Hajia Amina Tahiru who was accused by the Kontihene of Asuom of engaging in illegal mining said she was rather doing responsible mining.
Six indigenes of the Asuom town were arrested by private security officers guarding the concession of Hajia Amina.
Hajia Tahiru said “I hold in my hands the mining lease with all the documents that support me to do mining. This is not a galamsey site or illegal mining site, I have shown you mu document,
“I don’t even have single cocoa tree here. All the lands that have been mined were duly compensated with proper arrangement with the farmers.. we even gave them a duration, how long we want to sit on their lands to mine and put it together and give it back to them. Currently, we have 30 permanent workers on site, apart from the casual ones that come and go.”
