Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, again reiterated that forest reserves must remain no-mining zones – except in some exceptional situations – when he appeared before parliament to brief it on efforts to curb illegal mining.
To this end, he said, government had ceased issuing reconnaissance, prospecting and/or exploration licences in forest reserves unless under exceptional circumstances.
Mr. Samuel Jinapor added that as part of efforts to curb illegal mining, river-bodies – most of which have their sources in forest reserves – have also been declared as red zones for mining.
While making this sweeping statement, the minister however stated that a total of six forest entry permits have been issued for mining in Forest Reserves. These include CIMAF Ghana Limited, granted in 2018 and expired in 2021 and is no longer in force; and Chi-rano Gold Mines Limited renewed in 2019 after the existing permit granted in 2004 expired in 2019.
The rest are Kingsperp Mining Ltd. – granted in 2020; Koantwi Mining Co. Ltd. – granted in 2020; Onex International Co. Ltd. – granted in 2020; and Trans-Atlantic Logistics Ltd. – granted in 2020.
Of the six permits, he said, only Chirano Gold Mines and Koantwi Mining are in mining operations, with the others still working on other permits and/or authorisations required to commence their operations.
The minister spoke on the state of the country’s forest reserves in parliament last week, and indicated that the ecological integrity of Ghana’s forest reserves has largely been maintained despite several threats which impact negatively on the forests – an assertion that elicits derision among many environmentalists given the massive loss of the country’s forest cover.
However, the B&FT would like to know more about the current status of Atewa Range Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region of Ghana – which is internationally recognised as one of the highest-priority ecosystems in West Africa for its high species diversity, high levels of endemism and great hydrological importance.
Despite its critical nature, the forest is subject to the degrading effects of a range of human activities: including substantial threats from artisanal mining and commercial bauxite exploitation, illegal logging, hunting and farm encroachment.
Government is currently investing in the bauxite industry and Atewa has been named as a key source of ore.
It is quite interesting to learn that government ceased issuing reconnaissance, prospecting and/or exploration licences in forest reserves, albeit except in ‘special’ circumstances; but the true state of Atewa, which is also the source of several rivers and water-bodies in the country (including the Densu River that supplies the nations’ capital, Accra, with drinking water), is not made public even though prospecting for commercial bauxite is in progress.
Why are there more questions than answers in this literal life and death situation?
