Land use competition between small- and large-scale miners: a case study of Ghana

This paper examines the impact of land use disputes between small- and large-scale miners in Ghana, and prescribes a series of recommendations for facilitatingimproved relations between the parties. Since the launchingof the National Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) circa-1983, foreign investment has increased significantly in the Ghanaian mining sector, leading to the design and construction of a series of large-scale mines. Although a great number of companies have legally obtained plots of land from the Ghanaian Minerals Commission in the past two decades, management has often discovered, following periods of prospecting, that small-scale miners are operatingilleg ally within the same concession. In most instances, major conflicts have resulted but recently, certain companies have worked to improve communications with resident small-scale operators, which have resulted in both parties beingable to coexist in harmony within the same land plot. It is concluded, however, that marked improvements can only be achieved in this area if the understaffed Minerals Commission is provided assistance from other governmental groups and international agencies such as the World Bank and UNIDO, which already have an active involvement in the Ghanaian mining sector. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.