by Kojo Agyeman
The two Russians and Two Ukrainians who were arrested on Monday in Ghana for engaging in illegal mining spent the night at the Kumasi Central Police Station in the Ashanti Region.
They are expected to be brought to Accra later today, Tuesday for further investigations.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources John Peter Amewu ordered the arrest of the four foreign nationals for flouting the mining laws of the country.
The four, who are managers of Geo professional Services were spotted by the Lands Minister mining at one of the site the Minister visited during the tour of galamsey areas.
The firm is said to have mined 500 acres of land instead of 75 acres originally permitted them by the Minerals Commission at Tontokrom in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region..
The mining company was issued with the “stop work order” by the Inspection Directorate of the Minerals Commission on May 18 but disregarded directives and continued mining.
Although they had a small scale mining license, Mr. Amewu, in an exchange of words with the foreign miners, retorted that “what you are doing here has nothing to do with the small scale. You are destroying the environment and polluting the water bodies.”
“Just behind your door, you saw the pollution of the water bodies and this is clearly a concession meant for small scale mining. You are engaged in this as foreigners but I don’t think this will happen in your country,” Mr. Amewu said.
Two other companies, Kasmil Mining Company Limited and K. Afriyie and Sons Precious Metals Company Limited, were also issued with a stop work order.
These two companies are to also see to the reclamation of the land they worked on.
The government had previously suspended the operations of Shaanxi Ghana Mining Company Limited operating in Gbane in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region temporarily.
According to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the suspension in that instance was to allow for thorough investigations into the company’s underground operations, and the alleged death of about seven miners in the area.
There is a current war against illegal small scale mining also known as galamsey in Ghana.
Government had earlier put a six month moratorium on small scale mining as well as galamsey following pressure on it to ensure that the menace is stopped.
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