[ad_1]
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to diversifying the country's mineral resource base from traditional minerals such as gold, bauxite, manganese and diamonds, and to pay particular attention to the largely untapped mineral products to accelerate the growth of mineral resources. development.
This initiative calls for the mobilization of resources and capacity building of state institutions such as the Geological Survey Authority and the Minerals Commission, to effectively fulfill their mandate as key curators of geoscience information on natural resources. minerals from the country to accelerate the exploitation of untapped resources.
In this regard, the Minerals Commission was being restructured to strengthen its capacity to ensure effective governance of the country's mineral resources.
Mr. Benito Owusu-Bio, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said this at the closing ceremony of a two-week mineral resource badessment training program aimed at expert geologists from eight African countries, in Accra, Friday.
The training brought together 18 geoscience staff from African geological surveys, including Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Kenya, to enhance their expertise and skills to ensure good governance and the sustainable use of African mineral resources.
The capacity building workshop was organized by the Organization of African Geological Surveys (PanAfGeo), in collaboration with the Geological Survey Authority of Ghana (GGSA), the European Geological Surveys and the Studies Finnish Geological Survey.
Mr. Owusu-Bio said that many African countries were endowed with abundant mineral resources, which were part of their wealth, to help finance their socio-economic and infrastructural development.
It was therefore essential to acquire the appropriate knowledge and skills for effective resource governance and sustainable use.
The Deputy Minister felt that the training program would complement the government's efforts to strengthen the capacity of mining sector institutions to critically and comprehensively badess and badess available mineral resources.
He said this would inform the political decision on the effective governance of resources and the sustainable use of Ghana's available resources.
He urged the participants to ensure that the knowledge and skills acquired are reflected in their professional behavior in orienting the mineral resources policy of their respective countries in order to attract the necessary investments.
Mr. Owusu-Bio congratulated PanAfGeo for its continued support and efforts to strengthen the capacity of African geological institutes and other mining sector institutions, and welcomed the support of the European Commission and the Consortium of European geological studies, led by the French Geological Survey, for their technical work. and financial badistance.
"I urge all participants to use the platform proposed by PanAfgeo and your commitments during the training period to create the synergies needed for sustainable use of mineral resources across the continent, in accordance with the principles of the Vision for the exploitation of Africa, "he said.
Daniel Boamah, Acting Executive Director of GGSA, said the training was intended to provide African surveyors with guidelines to adequately badess minerals and mineral development in their respective countries.
This, he said, would enable them to provide accurate information to their customers, stakeholders and civil society organizations to promote the sustainable use of minerals for the good of society.
Ms. Riitta Teerilahti, Project Manager for Africa of the Geological Survey of Finland, said the support received from GGSA ensured a successful organization of the training program and believed that this would enhance the sustainable use of mineral resources in Africa. Africa to accelerate development.
As part of the training program, participants undertook a field trip to the Asanko gold mine in the Ashanti region to learn about ore processing.
Source link
