This, he said, would help seal loopholes in the current law which illegal miners were taking advantage of to abuse the current regime.

He said this in an interview with the media on the sidelines of an event in Accra yesterday, during which findings of final report on Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana was presented to stakeholders.

The media was however, not given the opportunity to cover the presentation.

Mr Owusu-Bio stated that in the current mining laws there was a mining support services activity which had paved the way for illegal miners to use the back door to transact business.

On the nationwide exercise to clamp down on illegal mining, the deputy minister said it was temporarily on hold due to the death of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama but would be resumed after his final funeral rites.

He indicated that a large number of military personnel had been assembled with funds from the finance ministry to spearhead the fight against galamsey for a year.

Touching on the report on small scale mining, he said it would help find solutions to illegal mining and stressed government’s commitment to end the menace.

Jonathan Donkor and Rita Aba Eshun