Gold Must Enrich our People Without Impoverishing Our Land – Arma-Buah

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Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, has declared that the extraction of Ghana’s precious mineral wealth must directly translate into tangible socio-economic prosperity for citizens without inflicting environmental devastation on local communities.

Speaking during a field launch of local mining cooperatives in the Western Region, he emphasized that natural resource extraction must undergo a systemic paradigm shift to align with long-term ecological balance.

He outlined the government’s commitment to ensuring that mineral wealth works to lift rural populations out of poverty while preserving critical ecosystems for future generations.

“Ghana’s gold must enrich our people without impoverishing our land. Through rCOMSDEP, the Government is giving mining communities a credible, lawful path to prosperity, one that protects our rivers, forests and farmlands and leaves no room for illegal mining activities.”

The Minister explained that through the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), the Government is actively establishing a formal, regulated ecosystem that replaces illegal artisanal extraction with structured, community-owned entities.

The deployment of rCOMSDEP serves as a strategic policy instrument designed to provide mining communities with a credible, lawful path to prosperity one that safeguards Ghana’s rivers, forests, and farmlands while eliminating the socio-environmental space that enables illegal mining activities.

Addressing traditional authorities, local governance leaders, and security stakeholders during the launch ceremonies, the Minister affirmed the government’s uncompromising stance on sustainable resource management:

The government’s sustainable extractive agenda translated into concrete policy enforcement through the simultaneous inauguration of multiple localized cooperative societies across key mining hubs in the Western Region.

At Tarkwa, Minister Armah-Kofi Buah officially launched the Tanoyaa Responsible Cooperative Mining Society Limited alongside the Akoon Responsible Cooperative Mining Society Limited.

These formal operational structures are engineered to transition informal artisanal miners into regulated, tax-compliant entities equipped with proper engineering oversight and environmental management frameworks.

The rollout extended further into the Prestea Huni-Valley municipal area later in the day, expanding the reach of rCOMSDEP to historically volatile mining enclaves.

At Bogoso, the Ministry officially unveiled the Samahu Tasks-ES Cooperative Mining Society Limited together with the Bogum and Alignment Responsible Cooperative Mining Society Limited.

The localized cooperative model establishes shared accountability between organized miners, state regulatory bodies, and community leadership, ensuring that extraction operations strictly adhere to environmental safety parameters.

The deployment of these legal mining entities relied heavily on broad-based stakeholder collaboration across local government and traditional hierarchies.

Minister Armah-Kofi Buah expressed profound gratitude to the revered traditional authorities, Members of Parliament Hon. Issah Taylor and Hon. Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, alongside Municipal Chief Executives Hon. Ebenezer Cobbinah and Dr. Matthew Kofi Ayeh.

The coordinated effort also involved technical personnel from the rCOMSDEP implementation team, the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and national security agencies tasked with enforcing compliance.

The urgent necessity for the rCOMSDEP initiative stems from decades of unregulated artisanal and small-scale mining (galamsey), which has caused severe degradation to Ghana’s river bodies, forest reserves, and agricultural lands.

Unregulated operations have historically introduced toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide into vital waterways, destroying major river basins including the Pra, Ankobra, and Birim.

This environmental damage has disrupted local ecosystems, threatened rural water security, and degraded thousands of hectares of fertile cocoa farmland.

Beyond environmental destruction, illegal mining operations have deprived the state of crucial mineral revenues while exposing young people in mining enclaves to hazardous labor conditions, insecurity, and economic vulnerability.

Traditional law enforcement approaches alone have proven insufficient in eradicating illegal mining without providing a viable economic alternative for rural youth dependent on small-scale extraction.

By institutionalizing rCOMSDEP, the government introduces a comprehensive structural solution that balances economic empowerment with strict environmental compliance.

The cooperative model grants formal concessions, provides access to green extraction technologies, mandates continuous land reclamation, and integrates vocational training.

This approach protects natural resources while integrating local communities directly into the formal value chain of Ghana’s extractive sector.

The formal launch of these mining cooperatives represents a fundamental shift in national natural resource governance.

By decentralizing regulatory oversight to the cooperative level, the Minerals Commission and the EPA can effectively monitor compliance, track gold provenance, and enforce land restoration mandates in real time.

This framework ensures that mined-out sites are systematically reclaimed for agriculture and re-afforestation rather than abandoned as environmental hazards.

Furthermore, rCOMSDEP links sustainable resource extraction with broader economic diversification in mining enclaves.

Through accompanying skills development programs, local workers receive technical training in heavy equipment operation, environmental management, and alternative trades.

This dual focus builds long-term community resilience, ensuring local economies remain stable beyond the lifecycle of finite mineral deposits.

Ghana’s extractive sector stands at a critical juncture where economic growth must no longer come at the expense of ecological stability.

The rollout of cooperative mining societies across Tarkwa and Prestea Huni-Valley establishes a scalable model for responsible resource governance.

Through continuous oversight and community partnership, rCOMSDEP provides the foundation to ensure that Ghana’s mineral wealth drives sustainable national development while preserving the country’s natural heritage.

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