President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that illegal miners (Galamseyers) have been cleared from eight out of nine forest reserves that had been captured and severely destroyed by unapproved mining activities.
The President made the revelation at the Global Mining Summit held on Monday, June 2, 2025.
The President praised the clearance as a major achievement in Ghana’s renewed fight against environmental degradation and illegal mining.
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.
He noted that “river guards” have been deployed to clear mining activities from riverbanks and water bodies, as part of a broader initiative to restore natural ecosystems and safeguard water resources.
Mahama also outlined new measures aimed at curbing illegal mining, including the introduction of a stricter permitting regime for excavators.
He stressed that excavators brought into the country must be properly tracked to prevent their use in unregulated mining operations.
“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 excavators.”