General News of Friday, 14 December 2018Source: ghananewsagency.orgGhana needs $29 billion to reclaim mined out areas - Frimpong-BoatengProfessor Kwabena Frimpong-BoatengGhana needs a colossal amount of $29 billion dollars to reclaim the mined out areas, which constitute 23,000 square kilometres of the land surface area, representing 10 per cent of the total land area of the nation. Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, said this in Accra, on Friday, at the outdooring of Government’s new policy framework on mining, to regularise and reform mining activities in the country. He said the nation was supposed to spend $12,000 to reclaim a hectare of land degraded by illegal mining, saying that the cumulative effect of illegal mining on the forest was devastating. “Illegal mining operators were discharging mine tailings directly into rivers and other water bodies that served as raw source for drinking. He urged all Ghanaians to co-operate with the government to roll out the new mining policy framework successfully.

Source: GhanaWeb December 14, 2018 18:00 UTC