“It will take the people who are custodians of the ore and the allocation to be able to protect it [the ore] for the betterment of our people. It takes goodwill and far-sighted policy to ensure that as we mine today, we think of the future.” Mr. Obeng said.
He was speaking at the maiden National Mining Forum organised by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in collaboration with the Minerals Commission in Accra.
Under the theme ‘Managing Ghana’s Mineral Resources for Sustainable National Development’, the forum was aimed at providing a platform for stakeholder engagement in the effective management of resources.
It brought together various stakeholders including chiefs from mining areas, representatives of small-scale miners and other large mining firms, officials from the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency among others.
Mr. Obeng said: “How the country’s mineral resources are managed for sustainable national development will effectively depend on how responsive the provisions of the minerals/mining laws are.
“In particular, whether mineral resources will support national development on sustainable basis will depend on how the resources are exploited, how much harm is caused to other national assets including the environment in the process of its extraction, how the minerals are marketed and, above all, how revenue from the exploitation is applied.
“We should invest part of the revenues from the non-renewable resources in the renewable components of industry, of agriculture, of tourism, so that we better empower the economy in the event that the mining industry cannot contribute to development anymore.”
Mr. Obeng cautioned government not to lose sight of tensions that could arise as a result of imbalances in the distribution mechanism of apportioning sections of revenue.
“Government must ensure that investors give appropriate returns, and that communities get their share of those revenues through taxes while workers and landowners as well as district assemblies in mining enclaves get their due in order to forestall tension,” he said.
Mr. Fred
Ohene Kena, Chairman of the maiden National Mining Forum, said:
“Government has a critical role to play in terms of formulating
policies, legislation and guidelines in regulating the industry.”
He indicated that community and mining industry leadership are expected to work together to remedy the near-failure to position the natural resources industry to serve society in its desperate need to meet demand.
“Guiding and supporting communities through their leaders to receive the benefit of mining activities must henceforth remain a vital aspect of our contribution to society in a major way.”
He observed that the country has favourable geological potential for minerals, stable political environment as well as a relatively well-developed infrastructure that can be transformed into a real competitive advantage -- which would ensure that the country derives the maximum benefit from its mineral resources.
“This must be the country’s agenda for sustainable mineral development.”
The forum was put in three phases to strengthen stakeholders to collaborate specifically among regulators, industry, academia and civil society; sensitise and inform the general public on the status and trends in the country’s mining industry; and to develop practical recommendations for effective management of the mining industry.
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