Accra, May 24, GNA -_The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has urged the Solar Mining Company not to begin operating until it has obtained the requisite permit from the Agency. This follows a routine inspection exercise during which the Agency discovered that the Company was prospecting minerals from three pits it created at Juaso near Osino in the Fanteakwa District Assembly area. Mr Ransford Sekyi, Deputy Director of the EPA, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview at the weekend that the company had no right to start mining when an authorization was not issued. He said the Agency had requested the company to carry out a reclamation exercise by filling excavated land..

Mr Sekyi who is also Head of Mining division of the Agency, said the Osino Police, the Chief Inspector of Mines, and the Ministries of Forestry and Land had been alerted to enforce the stoppage of operation. Mr Samuel Odalai Lamptey, Managing Director of the Company, told GNA that it had not gone into actual mining, but doing "bulk sampling to determine the viability of the ground and the texture of materials to be tested.

He said the company registered by the Registrar of Companies, was currently building alluvial plants for the processing of alluvial gravels and that would start when the EPA issues them with a permit.