• The Ghana Chamber of Mines says the only way to address illegal mining is to have a constructive partnership between industry and government

• Eric Asubonteng, GCM president said there are lots of opportunities in the mining industry

• Ghana has been ranked 4th with a 14.3% share of investments in mining exploration in Africa

The Ghana Chamber of Mines has called for a constructive partnership between government and industry to address the many challenges including illegal small scale mining as well as a decline in investment in mining exploration.

According to the president of the Chamber, Eric Asubonteng there are many opportunities in the mining industry that can be harnessed through increased investment if the right things are done.

He was speaking at the ongoing 2021 West Africa Mining and Power conference in Accra.

“The posture of government and in particular the current Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Jinapor and his team, is one of the partnerships with industry and for us as a chamber, that is the most important thing. There are issues and challenges in the industry that need to be dealt with. There are also opportunities some of which I think we will be delving into today that we can take advantage of.

“But in all those, the best way forward is to form constructive partnerships between industry and government to ensure we step our way through those partnerships and take full advantages of those opportunities before we run out of time,” he said.

Mr Asubonteng also disclosed that Ghana has been ranked 4th in the area of share of investments in mining exploration on the African continent with a mark of 14.3%.