Accra, July 17, GNA - Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, on Friday said Government has put in place a number of interventions to assist regularize the activities of galamsey operators.

He said this was in recognition of the importance government attached to that sector of the economy.

Alhaji Dauda was speaking in parliament during question time and noted that evidence of this intervention was the promulgation of the PNDC Law 218 of 1989 on Small Scale Mining (SSM) and the Mineral and Mining Act 2006 (Act 703).

He said Government had, in addition, opened district offices at designated areas such as Tarkwa, Asankragwa, Bibiani, Assin Foso,Dunkwa, Akim Oda and Bolgatanga to educate and provide ready technical support and facilitate regularization of the small scale mining operations.

He said District Mining Committees headed by District Chief Executives (DCE) were being set up at the District and Municipal Assemblies to assist the district mining officers to deal with small scale mining issues.

Another evidence of government intervention he said was the continued identification of suitable areas to be assessed by prospective small scale miners.

"Over 70 of such places with a total area of 4,640.70 square kilometres now exist throughout the country," he said.

The Minister said geological investigation was on-going of these blocked areas to be assessed by prospective small scale miners in tracing ore deposits in their prospective concessions.

He said there was also the introduction of appropriate technologies to improve the mineral recovery and consequently to reduce the cost of operations, adding that licensing procedures were being simplified to make it less tedious for small scale mines to acquire licenses.