Illegal miners are silting and damming part of the Black Volta River through the dumping of waste material into the river to block the flow of water to process waste materials for gold.
They are also blocking all the tributaries flowing into the Black Volta to dam the water to process their waste materials in finding gold.
Chemical substances such as cyanide, mercury and other dangerous elements are washed into the river and its tributaries, contaminating the water sources, and putting the lives of community members along the Black Volta River in danger.
The water in the Black Volta River serves as the intake point for the Wa Water Project and the Hippopotamus Sanctuary in Wechiau in the Wa West District, which are likely to be extricated or migrate to other water sources elsewhere.
Equally, animals and aquatic life are also in danger, while the practices also impede the free flow of water into both the Bui and Akosombo Dams, which serve as energy generating facilities for Ghana.
Mr Prince Ofori Amponsah, a senior geologist at Azumah Resources Limited, told Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, the Upper West Regional Minister, that about six to eight Kia Trucks damp waste into the river every hour, thereby polluting large portion of the river land and damming the water to wash waste materials for gold.
The Geologist who took Alhaji Sulemana through the various activities of the miners on the river expressed fear that if a quick and decisive decision was not taken to stop the activities of the miners on the river, the river was likely to silt up soon.
Mr Amponsah, said beside, the Black Volta River, the miners were executing illegal activities in the company’s concession in the Wa East where about 15 to 16 Kia Trucks were seen carrying waste materials into all available rivers, and streams for washing for gold.
He said cyanide and mercury pollution were high in the rivers and streams and people must be careful of the type of water sources they drank water in the forest.
He said bulldozers, excavators and other earth-moving machines were used in the concession where full mining activities were ongoing thus denying the company the chance to enter into the concession or carry out further feasibility studies.
“The Wa East concession is a no go area for the company staff,” he emphasized. “The miners recently destroyed our vehicles when we tried to enter the concession.
“Children, especially young girls, are refusing to go to school and women are also divorcing their husbands and trooping to illegal mining spots to make quick money.”
Mr Amponsah appealed to companies which were providing boreholes and dams in the Wa East District to carry out laboratory research on the ground water to find out whether the water was contaminated or not with chemical substances.
Alhaji Sulemana expressed his worry over the activities of the illegal miners said if care was not taken the illegal miners could change the political fortunes of Ghana and all must be worried about that.
He said the description provided him before his visit to the spot “was like a myth but seeing what was going on, the picture was even worse than painted before”.
He said the miners had succeeded in destroying farm lands and agriculture was seriously affected, as well as water bodies and human lives.
The Regional Minister said traditional rulers in the region had expressed concern about the activities of illegal miners and the damage caused to ecosystems, agriculture, animal husbandry, and environment, explaining: “There is the need to strike a balance between mining and agriculture”
Source: ghanaweb
