Illegal miners cleared from eight out of nine forest reserves – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has announced that illegal miners have been cleared from eight out of nine forest reserves that were previously declared no-go zones due to extensive environmental degradation.

Speaking at the Global Mining Summit on Monday, June 2, 2025, the President described the development as a significant milestone in Ghana’s ongoing efforts to restore degraded lands and enforce sustainable mining practices.

He also emphasized the government’s commitment to stricter monitoring and control measures, including the tracking of excavators to ensure they are not used for illegal mining.

These measures, the President said, form part of a broader strategy to enforce responsible mining and environmental stewardship.

Mahama said, “Working together with the small-scale mining sector, we will reclaim our forest reserves and restore the purity of our water bodies. Our river guards are working on clearing mining activities in our water bodies and on the banks of our rivers. We have successfully, as the Minister told you, we have successfully cleared illegal mine out of eight out of the nine no-go zone forest reserves. We will track excavators, as the Minister said, in order to know whether they are being used for illegal mining or not, and we intend to change the permitting regime.”

“Ghana has more excavators in this country than in the whole of Africa. We are going to change the permitting regime. You will not be allowed to import an excavator or put it on a ship unless you get a permit before you can ship an excavator.”