The National Concerned Small-Scale Miners Association of Ghana has thrown its weight behind the government’s Responsible Cooperative Mining Scheme, describing the initiative as a more sustainable way of tackling illegal mining than relying primarily on security operations.
In the association’s view, formalising unlicensed mining activity could pull more miners into the legal framework, strengthen regulatory oversight, protect the environment and safeguard the livelihoods of the thousands of Ghanaians who depend on small-scale mining for their survival.
In a statement issued on October 26 and signed by its President, Michael Kwadwo Peprah, the association expressed unease at the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) opposition to the formalisation approach championed by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod). It challenged the opposition party to present what it considers a better alternative to dealing with illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, arguing that criticism without workable solutions would do little to resolve a problem that has persisted for decades.
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“The NPP cannot simply oppose formalisation without explaining how it intends to address the persistent challenges of illegal mining, protect our environment and secure the livelihoods of thousands of Ghanaian miners,” the statement said. “We urge the party to state its position clearly and provide practical alternatives. Miners deserve to know whether the opposition to formalisation reflects genuine concerns about the policy or political considerations that do little to address their circumstances.”
The association traced the country’s efforts to regulate small-scale mining back to the introduction of the PNDC law on small-scale mining in 1989 under former President Jerry John Rawlings. It maintained, however, that the existing licensing regime has failed to bring all miners into the formal sector, creating the need for additional measures to help unlicensed operators regularise their activities.
According to the association, the Responsible Cooperative Mining Scheme could complement the existing licensing framework by creating a pathway for miners who are willing to operate responsibly to do so within the law. Rather than treating every unlicensed miner as a criminal, the scheme, in the association’s assessment, offers an opportunity to convert willing operators into regulated ones with proper documentation, training and oversight.
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The group also pointed to the human dimension of the debate, noting that many young Ghanaians rely on small-scale mining to earn a living and support their families. The realities of these livelihoods, it argued, must be weighed carefully in the development of any policy aimed at tackling illegal mining. Ignoring those realities, the association suggested, risks producing interventions that look firm on paper but fail to address the underlying pressures that drive people into unlicensed mining in the first place.
The statement adds a significant voice to an increasingly heated national conversation over how best to confront galamsey. Successive governments have struggled to balance environmental protection against the livelihoods of communities that depend on the sector, and enforcement-heavy campaigns have often displaced miners rather than eliminated the practice. The association’s endorsement of the cooperative scheme signals that at least part of the mining community is prepared to embrace regulation, provided it is designed in a way that recognises their circumstances.
Whether the scheme delivers on its promise, however, will depend on implementation — on the capacity to register miners efficiently, to enforce the exclusions that even the government has acknowledged cannot be tolerated, such as mining in water bodies and forest reserves, and to ensure that formalisation is not merely a rebranding of business as usual. For now, the miners’ association has made its position clear: it wants a policy that regulates rather than merely punishes, and it is asking the opposition to say what it would do differently.
