The government's initiative to support ethical and sustainable small-scale mining through the application of contemporary technologies is having a favourable effect.
More than 30,000 small-scale miners have been forced by the intervention to transition from the outdated method of using mercury and other harmful chemicals to extract gold to the usage of mercury-free mining equipment.
This comes after the Community Mining Plan distributed 60 mercury-free "gold kacha" devices to the miners (CMS).
The number of beneficiaries is scheduled to reach 120,000 by the end of the year when the machines are doubled to 120 across CMS zones.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stated in his address to Parliament on March 8 that 16 mining schemes that relied on mercury-free machines to process and extract gold had already been put into operation.
By the end of the year, the President promised, three additional CMSs will be put into service.
All of these plans are supported by gold "kachas," which are pieces of machinery made to make it easier for small-scale miners to extract gold from ore without the use of mercury, the man claimed.
In addition, he stated that the government would increase the number of CMSs as part of its efforts to combat what is known as galamsey, or unlawful mining.
The CMS idea, according to the President, is a practical way to encourage ethical small-scale mining.
The new technology has been recognised as a significant step towards treating the problems connected with artisanal small-scale mining since it has a high rate of gold recovery of 90%, compared to the other technologies that do between 30 and 35% of gold recovery.
President Akufo-Addo unveiled the gold "kacha" equipment in June of last year with the goal of promoting sustainable mining in the artisanal small-scale mining industry.
The intervention is also intended to eliminate the negative impacts of using mercury and other toxic processes to produce gold.
Small-scale miners in various mining districts, including as Eastern, Ashanti, Western, Northern, and Upper East, have accepted the programme just eight months after the government first implemented it.
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