Minerals Commission’s Position On ....

Dansoman Road Project Delay By The Contractor, Progressive Modern Company

The Minerals Commission’s attention has been brought tomedia claims by the Executive Director of Progressive Modern Company, Alhaji Abdullah Ahmed –Abdullah, the contractor working on the Dansoman roads, blaming the Commission for the delays in the project completion.

On the substantive issue, we would like to state that:

The land in which the minerals reside may be the property of individuals, chiefs, communities, families, etc. However, under the 1992 Constitution and the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), all minerals in their natural state are vested in the President in trust for the people of Ghana. Thus, the President, through the Minister responsible for mines is the grantor of mineral rights, or the right to extract any mineral.

Minerals are not just the gold, diamonds, bauxite and manganese. They include the industrial mineralslikebasalt, clay, granite, gravel, gypsum, laterite, limestone, marble, rock, sand, sandstone, slate talc, salt, etc. The removal or use of any such mineral requires the grant of a mineral right from the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

In the case of an industrial mineral, the right granted is a Restricted Mining Lease (RML).

The process for obtaining a restricted mining lease starts with an application being made to the Minerals Commission in the appropriate form, including a search report, relevant site plans, particulars of financial and technical resources, and the programme of mining operations. For contractors working on government projects, the Minerals Commission requires, additionally a copy of the government contract to facilitate a fast track processing of the application.

It is therefore unfortunate for the Executive Director of Progressive Modern Company to claim that the justification for impounding his excavator is not tenable.

As we write, the Company has not yet applied for the permit to enable the Minerals Commission process and issue out the mineral right for the contractor to operate the pit, as the law requires. Meanwhile, the Executive Director has found ample time jumping from one media house to the other since Thursday February 9, 2012 when his burrowing activities were stopped, all intended to put his weak case across ostensibly to win public sympathy. We wonder what is the basis of his misconceived claim of undue bureaucracy in securing amineral right for winning gravels when he has not even submitted an application. It is worthy to note that the same company, Progressive Modern Company (PMC) on February 10, 2010 had its operations temporary halted by the then Industrial Minerals Task Force for the same offence of winning gravels from GomoaAnopansu pit without permit. At the time, the Minerals Commission outlined the procedures for obtaining the mineral right to the company. Attached are copies of correspondence to this fact (Appendix A& B). The Executive Director can therefore not absolve himself from knowing the procedure for obtaining this mineral right.

We hope the above explanations will set the record straight as to why the earth moving equipment of the contractor has been impounded. The Commission has however met with the contractor today to chart a course to expedite action on a permit for PMC’s burrowing activities and get the Dansoman project back on track.

The Minerals Commission would like to advise all contractors and others who would mine/excavate and use such minerals that the law requires them to first get a licence from the Minister responsible for mines. The requirement for obtaining a mineral right to win gravel or any other industrial mineral is one of the various measures in place to safeguard the environment and human lives by ensuring the use of best practice in mining activities, including post-mining reclamation.

We assure all that the process is not to create bottlenecks for projects by undue bureaucracy.

Finally, the Minerals Commission would like to take this opportunity to urge all stakeholders, especially the media to join hands in the fight against illegal mining of any form, so as to protect the environment and also rake in the needed taxes for government projects. The Commission is further sounding a note of caution to all contractors winning any of the industrial minerals to follow the due process by acquiring the required permits to operate.

Yours faithfully,

(JOSEPH YAW ABOAGYE) Director, Policy Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation