The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel A. Jinapor, has said his Ministry is going to insist on the concurrent reclamation and revegetation of mined-out lands by illegal miners.

He explained: "This means that when you excavate, you will reclaim, you revegetate immediately before you move forward."

The minister was of the view that it is a wrong arrangement, by law, for illegal miners to reclaim and revegetate the lands within 30 days after excavation, which makes them leave behind a lot of lands degraded and move unto other areas.

The minister said this when he visited a pilot reclamation site at the Bosome Freho District in the Ashanti Region on 19 January 2022 to obtain first-hand information on the progress of work on reclaimed lands and chart the way forward for the project.

He said this pilot reclamation site was clear evidence of the ramifications of the government's reclamation policy touted since the assumption of the Akufo-Addo government.

Mr Jinapor bemoaned the magnitude of the damage the actions of illegal miners have caused the country's lands and vegetation cover, especially to the southern part of the country and pledged the government’s commitment to aggressively reclaim all degraded lands across the country.

The minister said considering the capital-intensive nature of this project, the government would come up with intelligent ways to roll it out, adding that the ministry has already started making arrangements to that effect.

"We’ll require a National Reclamation Fund to support the programme and at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, we are beginning to interrogate the mechanism within which we can have this National Reclamation Fund," he said.

The minister also hinted at the introduction of a Community Mining Scheme in the Yapeesa Kokoben community where these lands have been reclaimed to ensure that the illegal miners in the community get an alternative source of livelihood.

Mr Jojoo Tibu Darko, the Project Manager, who briefed the minister on the progress made, said the total work done at the reclamation site took four months to complete, adding that they embarked on a massive sensitisation programme in the community before commencing the project by engaging all the chiefs, other opinion leaders and community members to educate them on the essence of the project.

He assured the minister that after final discussions with the community to agree on which plants to grow, and with the needed resources, they should be able to reclaim the entire landscape of about 393.8 acres and hopefully commence revegetation by March this year.