President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has advised Ghanaians not to chase after wealth from precious minerals from the earth at the expense of our natural environment.

According to him, mining from precious minerals from the earth is in itself not bad action. However, when it is done without control, it damages our natural habitat, which consequently turns out bad for both humans and animals.

He made this known during the National Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining.

“Mining can create jobs, improve livelihoods and generate wealth but it cannot and must not do so at the expense of damaging the very environment that produces the riches.

We have to acknowledge that Ghana is not made up only of humans but it is also made up of the soil, the mountains, the valleys, the forest, the rivers, the lakes, the sea and the plant and animal life as well. Without them, we humans cannot and will not survive. We have to acknowledge that the natural environment has the right to be here as we humans do”.

The President furthered that while there is nothing wrong with mining to develop our country, this is the time to “rejuvenate our land and take a careful look at how we use the land; the time to revisit our farming and building techniques and also the time to visit the issue of galamsey”.

The two-day National Consultative Dialogue on small-scale mining at the Accra International Conference Centre is intended to solicit views, proposals and suggestions from diverse stakeholders in the small-scale mining industry, to develop appropriate policy interventions for the sector.