“Mining cooperative is internationally accepted, group mining is not accepted around the world; the only way you can police mining activities in your community is cooperative mining. As a member of a cooperative, your money is invested and you will not allow someone else to carry your diamond or gold across the border to sell for you, but as cooperative mining society. Through your leadership, your minerals are well sold and government benefits from it through lawful revenue collection.” These were the words of Deputy Minister for Planning, Research and Development, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Carlton S. Miller.
Deputy Minister Miller has reiterated his ministry’s commitment to the establishment and training of artisanal miners into a cooperative society through the Liberia Forest Sector Project, funded by the World Bank through the Norwegian Forest Development Fund.
“We will lobby at the Ministry of Mines and Energy relating to the issue of forming Artisanal miners into a mining cooperative society. This is the only way government, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, can manage artisanal mining,” Deputy Minister Miller reminded participants.
The Deputy Minister made the statement during the Ministry of Mines and Energy and Cooperative Development Agency’s joint official program marking the commencement of the pre-cooperative formation training for artisanal miners project, “Establishment and Training of Artisanal Miners into Cooperative Society through the Liberia Forest Sector Project”. The program was held in Zolowoe, Zorzor District, Lofa County, on November 25, 2021.
Minister Carlton also mentioned that Ghana has put a stop to artisanal mining because, according to him, artisanal mining is dangerous to the environment and government can manage artisanal mining only through cooperative mining. He said the fight to make sure the issue of forming a mining cooperative will stand. “This is the only way Mines and Energy will manage mining activities in Liberia,” he said.
Deputy Minister Carlton S. Miller, who is also a professor of geography at the state-run University of Liberia (UL), said cooperative mining will make artisanal and small-scale mining safe for women, youth and communities. He mentioned that cooperative mining will make artisanal and small-scale mining safe for communities, as there will be respect for all mining laws and child labor and the abuse of women in mining camps stopped.
Minister Miller observed that cooperative mining will ensure that artisanal miners get their license, with the government having a smooth means of stopping them from polluting the waters and using mercury, and ensuring that miners respect the laws of the environment.
For his part, the Assistant Minister for Training, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Minister Johnson S. Willabo, asked artisanal miners to do away with mercury in mining which, according to him, is very dangerous to the environment. He said the use of mercury in mining brings sicknesses, including cancer, to communities.
Assistant Minister Willabo told the participants that after the pre-cooperative formation training, the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) will come back to carry on what he called good governance and financial management training for would-be leaders of the proposed cooperative, and after that they will receive Pre-Cooperative Permit. Therefore, the Ministry of Mines and Energy will come and train them in smart mining techniques, under which miners will learn how to protect their forest and refill holes that they will leave behind for future use.
Meanwhile, the Register General for the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA), Regina Sokan-Teah, praised and lauded the Mines and Energy Ministry for bringing on board the idea of transforming artisanal miners into cooperative societies throughout the country.
The CDA boss urged artisanal miners to use the opportunity provided by the government to train and transform them into cooperative societies. She said government cannot employ everyone, but can provide the atmosphere to empower its citizens. “This is why the CDA and Ministry of Mines and Energy are working together to make sure that you are trained and transformed into a cooperative so you can help yourself and your family,” she said.
Regina Sokan-Teah also used the occasion to call on communities members to protect their forests and do away with bad mining practices, and save their forests for the next generation, as the whole world is now talking about climate change.