President Nana Addo Darkwa Akufo-Addo has lauded Operation Vanguard, an anti-galamsey taskforce of police and army personnel, for their immense support towards the fight against galamsey.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Secretariat of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), the President described the action by the taskforce to be a massive accomplishment.

“Operation Vanguard thus far has been a huge success,” he said.

The Akufo-Addo-led government, upon assumption into office in January, announced a crackdown on illegal mining activities which was followed by a ban on small-scale mining as part of efforts to regulate the mining sector.

The Head of State voiced his satisfaction on how the training of about 400 small scale miners in sustainable mining from the University of Miners and Technology at Tarkwa has yielded positive results.

He anticipated that “by the end of September 2018, 1300 miners would have received training.”

According to him, regular interactions between the Inter-Ministerial Committee and the Small Scale Miners Association to craft a coat of practice for small scale mining operations has been of tremendous help to curb the galamsey menace.

Determined to make sure the menace is a thing of the past, President Akufo-Addo revealed at the commissioning that there will be a formation of district committees against illegal mining, with clearly defined terms of references, where the committees are expected to address all issues concerning illegal mining in the mining communities in their district.