'Galamseyers' now mining in their bedrooms - Minister

It has emerged that some recalcitrant illegal miners have now resorted to the comfort of their bedrooms to engage in illegal mining.

This was made known by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, who reveals that “in-house mining” is currently on the high side in the Asante Akyem Central Municipality.

According to him, the area being rich in gold deposits, has seen some people adopt strange ways to mine – a situation which clearly undermines government’s resolve against illegal small-scale mining.

“It is shocking to know that some unscrupulous people have resorted to in-house mining at the Asante-Akyem Central Municipality in the Ashanti region. These people dig deep pits in their bedrooms and they illegally mine for gold under their roof without anybody seeing them and it’s dangerous,” he revealed during a regional coordinating council (RCC) meeting in Kumasi.

Meanwhile, the minister for lands and natural resources, John Peter Amewu, has revealed plans by government to extend the ban on illegal small-scale mining by at least six months to fully put an end to the menace of galamsey.