Ghana’s flagship cooperative mining scheme has only one site under development nationwide, too slow to serve as a real alternative to fast spreading illegal mining, a policy think tank says.
Africa Policy Lens (APL) said a Right to Information (RTI) response from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources showed that only one project under the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) is being developed across the country. No gold has been produced under the scheme, the group said in a position paper on Monday, despite the publicity around it.
The finding sits well below the government’s own plans. In February, programme officials said more than 200 cooperatives would be set up by the end of that month, with 25 operational schemes targeted for 2026 and pilot sites earmarked for the Ashanti, Ahafo and Western regions.
Wisdom Gomashie, a fellow at APL, told the Asaase Breakfast Show that the lone site is idle. “No work is ongoing on the site,” he said. He warned that galamsey is spreading across mining districts faster than the scheme is taking shape.
rCOMSDEP was introduced to replace the community mining model and pull small scale miners into legal, structured cooperatives with mercury free processing. The government estimates about a million people mine informally, with up to 4.5 million depending on the trade, and treats formalising them as central to its anti galamsey effort.
Some groundwork has been laid. The Lands Minister launched the programme in Bibiani last September, and large miners including Newmont Ghana, AngloGold Ashanti and Perseus Mining have given up parts of their concessions to support it. APL itself noted that the programme’s secretariat has complained of a lack of funds.
The no gold finding cuts against official messaging that has tied Ghana’s gold traceability drive to organised, community based mining. APL urged the government to commit money and technical support and to open more cooperative sites so the model can stand as a credible alternative to illegal mining.
