The Ghana Armed Forces has said that it is making significant progress in Ghana’s efforts to fight the menace of illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) through its Operation Halt II initiative.

According to the army, the operation, which is targeted at galamsey-prone areas in the Central, Western, and Ashanti Regions, has led to a massive improvement in the turbidity of some major rivers heavily polluted by the menace.

In a statement issued on Thursday, April 6, 2023, the army said that it has, since 2022, arrested 13 illegal miners and confiscated and destroyed hundreds of galamsey equipment, including changfans, excavators, pumping machines, generators, and vehicles.

“The team arrested 13 illegal miners, comprising one Chinese, two Ghanaians, and 10 Burkinabes, who have since been handed over to the police for prosecution. The team also destroyed a total of 315 changfans, seven pumping machines, and several temporal structures, while 10 excavators were seized.

“The Central Command Team also conducted operations in the Amansie South District in the Ashanti Region. The areas covered included Abore, Dasomo, Takorase. Manso Nkran, Kaniego, and other mining communities. In all, 115 Changfans, 51 generator sets, 90 water pumps and some illegal structures were destroyed and an excavator immobilised.

“In the first quarter of 2023, personnel of Southern Command seized items including six (6) excavators, 120 changfang machines, 18 medium and nine heavy duty water pumps. Several temporal structures were also destroyed across the sites. There was, however, no arrest made within the period,” parts of the statement read.

Read the full statement below:





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