A Task force of the Small Scale Miners Association has undertaken an operation at Mankranso and other illegal mining sites in the Ashanti Region to flush out illegal miners whose activities are destroying farm lands and river bodies.

The illegal miners popularly known as galamseyers who were mining on river Mankran, upon getting wind of the taskforce fled the area immediately before the taskforce arrived.

Mining equipment such as changfang, water pumping machines, and others were ceased. The changfang was set ablaze by task force of the Small Scale Miners.

According to the leader of the task force, such operations will continue in all parts of the country to clamp down on galamseyers who he described as foreigners who are destroying water bodies with impunity.

"We will fight to stop the illegal mining until our water bodies are clean, We are not going to relent. The issue of galamsey has become a political as we approach the December 7 general election.

"People are claiming the sitting government is destroying water bodies through galamsey, and government is also blaming small scale miners. Other politicians are also promising the illegal miners that they will be given opportunity to continue mining when they are elected into power. All these issues will not help us, that is why ahead of the elections, we the Taskforce of the Small Scale Miners Association has intensified our fight against galamsey to help the government and Ghana as a whole.

"If the operations of the Small Scale Miners Association taskforce is extended to protect our water bodies, there is no way these people can continue mining in our water bodies and polluting them. We can only fight them when we are empowered and supported by the government," the leader of the Task force told the media after their operation at Mankraso.

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He added that "rather unfortunately and sadly when they the small scale miners who do legitimate mining are fighting the galamseyers, their excavators are rather the ones that end up being destroyed by military/police task force."





KA

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