The country’s mining sector as at June 2019 has employed over 26,000 people both directly and indirectly, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh; Minister of Lands and Natural Resources has revealed.

According to him, this is an improvement of last year’s full employment figure of 23, 894 and is mainly attributed to the rise of Ghanaian participation in the sector.

“The mining sector continues to generate employment for the people of Ghana providing livelihood for thousands across the country. As at June 2019, a total of 26,425 persons were employed directly and indirectly by the mining sector. This is a marked improvement over last year’s full year employment figure of 23,894”, he said.

Speaking to the media at the Meet the Press series on Wednesday, September 12 the Lands Minister further indicated how government has generated a total of GHC1.3bn as revenue from the mining sector.

He disclosed that the GHC1.3bn generated represents 17 percent of government’s total revenue gathered for the year 2019.

He intimated that the change makes up an increase of 39 percent in the sector’s contribution relative to the GHC980m retrieved in 2018.

Also, with the fight against illegal mining (galamsey) in the country, Mr. Asomah-Cheremeh revealed how his ministry has been able to chalk success since the campaign on it started.

He touted that they’ve achieved 85 percent success which indicates how government is committed to curbing the menace.

The Lands Minister stressed that although they are met with challenges where people still engage in galamsey activities, the Minerals and Mining Law has been amended to ensure stiffer punishment for mining offenders.

Per the Minerals and Mining Law, offenders will be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 20 years or pay a fine between 10,000 and 15,000 penalty units.