The Minerals Commission has installed tracking devices on 68 excavators in Tarkwa, Prestea, Obuasi, Bibiani, and Bolgatanga as piloting of electronic monitoring of all earthmoving machines and equipment used in mining operations begins.
The tracking devices are part of a broader effort by the government to combat illegal mining, which has caused widespread environmental damage in Ghana.
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abdulai Jinapor announced this when he answered questions on the floor of Parliament yesterday.
Deployment of the tracking devices is to enforce the Minerals and Mining (Mineral Operations – Tracking of Earthmoving and Mining Equipment) Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2404) that empowered the commission to track all earthmoving machines and equipment used in mining operations.
In December 2022, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Lands Commission inaugurated the Ghana Mine Repository and Tracking Control Centre, a situation room meant to track the movement of earthmoving equipment in mining concessions.
The facility, located at the Minerals Commission, was established on the directive of the minister as a measure to track all excavators that are used by small-scale miners for mining operations.
The excavator monitoring section has technical staff whose responsibility was to monitor the movement of excavators within the concessions they had been assigned to.
The control room staff are able to get relevant information on excavators including their number plates, the time they moved, the speed, where the machine had been over time, and whether it was within concession area.
Once the machine is moving close to the buffer around the concession it has been paired to operate, a beep draws the drivers attention.
Once the machine goes out of the designated zone, it will be unable to move unless the control room assesses the situation and restores its movement
The tracking technology was developed locally by the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) using local human resource.
Mr Jinapor explained that the tracked excavators are automatically shut down whenever they move outside their concession area and can only be restarted by officials of the Minerals Commission using an online application.
According to him, the Ministry and the Minerals Commission have been working to track all earth-moving and tracking equipment in accordance with the law.
He announced that approval has been sought from the Public Procurement Authority for the purchase of drones and tracking devices.
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister said several other logistical support has been provided to the Minerals Commission to enable it effectively monitor mining operations, including vehicles, among others.
