The management of the operations of small-scale mining industries in the Obuasi municipality

Abstract

Small-scale mining has become an activity that provides livelihoods to growing numbers of rural people in Ghana. This has attracted most of the youth and other groups of people into the business. This study sought to explore the management of operations of small-scale mining industries in the Obuasi Municipality. The study sought the views of small-scale miners from the communities under study (Ahansoyewodea, Pomposo, Akrokerri, Kwabrafoso, Asonkori and Akaporiso) at Obuasi Municipality. The instrument used to gather the data was questionnaire and interview. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the miners. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was employed for data analysis. The result of the study shows that 86.7% of the respondents experienced improvement in living conditions as a result of the business. All the respondents (100%) indicated that they don’t receive any support from the government. More than half of the respondents (53.3%) have not received any education on the hazards of mining. Generally, this study has confirmed that the issue of the management of the activities borders on legislative instrument and policies implementation, public institutional failure, rural poverty, use of rudimentary tools, poor technology, and low level of education among the miners and the attitude of some miners.