 Ghana is among the countries in Africa to actually legalize small-scale mining. There were times when holding gold was an offence to the law. I can say that on paper, Ghana has one of the best setups or laws and regulations regarding small-scale mining. It's difficult for anybody in my mainstream banking to actually say, yes, I can give you $50,000. I can give you $10,000. It's just very difficult. In the midst of the dangers, difficulties and complaints against artisanal and small-scale mining, the industry has continued to provide sustainable livelihoods and incomes for many rural homes, as well as contribute greatly to annual national gold production. In Ghana, I think in 2012-2013, about 34% of our gold, total amount of gold produced, came from a small-scale mining sector. We haven't taken advantage of this well enough, because if we were taking 1% tax out of this, it would be significant, but the way things are, I'm not sure the state makes that much money, but at least people are employed out of that. Now, if you look at employment, the estimate has always been around 1.5 million people, almost directly engaged in small-scale mining. But how serious has the country taken the formalization of artisanal small-scale mining? Small-scale mining is very important to the economy of this country. In 1989, in the wisdom of the government at that time of the state, they passed a law that allowed for Ghanaians who were interested in mining or in small-scale mining to undertake small-scale mining. Now, the challenge we have had is how the law has been implemented and how we have applied ourselves to the law. I think that the licensing procedure has to be re-looked at to make it simpler for small-scale miners to be able to register. Among people, we say it is 90 days, but on the ground, it can take about two years. Lack of participation in policy formulation is not the only problem artisanal and small-scale miners face, but access to viable land. Most of the areas have been given to the large-scale miners, so we don't even have a space for small-scale mining. That is why they regard miners everywhere. For ASMs to have access to viable land, the Geological Survey Department has a crucial role to play. The role of Geological Survey is to delineate areas where there is good potential and that when the small-scale miner goes there, he knows that he is not just going to waste his time, but gets something out of the way that he will do. The bottom line is getting the necessary resources, logistics for Geological Survey to do proper investigation and give the documents, the mouths to Minerals Commission to sort of parcel out and give to the small-scale miners. On the concessions of large-scale mines, there are several small pockets of mineable reserves that are not suitable for large-scale operations. These have to be identified. We should be able to sit down and ask ourselves, what are the conditions that small-scale miners have to meet so that they will be allowed to work on small pockets of mineable reserves on the concessions of large-scale mines? The artisanal miner, as per the law, or the small-scale miner as per the law, should be a Ghanaian, not below 18 years. It would have land of about 25 acres. They would use simple implement and all that. Now, what we see is no longer simple and artisanal. You see the use of excavators, which is not a small-scale mining equipment, I mean an artisanal mining equipment. You see trommels. You see shangfan. You see all these equipment that the law at that time did not anticipate. Besides these challenges, artisanal and small-scale miners also have a difficulty with accessing financial credit. If you want to make more, you need to put in a lot more money. And if you, as an indigenous small-scale miner, be it woman or male, cannot access these funds, I think it's very tempting to get a foreign financier. The Chinese came in to fill a gap. People need funds. The mainstream funding agencies or financial agencies are not able to provide the funds. And if, as a people, we do not want the Chinese to be around, then the question is, what are we doing to fill in the gap that the Chinese have left? But what is the financial industry's own expectations of ASMs in filling the financial gap? You have a concession and then with a digging permit from the Minerals Commission. And you are registered with the Registrar General's Department to do the business of mining. And then we also see that you have the certificate from the Environmental Protection Agency. Then we will really finance it. With the ASM sector determined to survive, how should the state handle the sector in the face of its accompanying environmental pollution challenge? Small scale miners that are regularised, first of all, should be able to optimize their resources in terms of the flow sheet that they are using. And two, there should be environmental stewardship. And after they have closed down, there should be some form of reclamation to make sure that they tidy up the mess that they have created in the course of mining. Because naturally, mining creates mess. Deepen, the discussion towards realising a more formalised ASM sector. Friends of the nation in partnership with the International Institute of Environment and Development is showing the way with the National Action Dialogue on ASMs. The fora is going to take place in Takwa. It's going to take place over a four-day period where two days of it is dedicated to fold visits to understand what artisanal small scale mining is. In areas in Takwa, and there was a waste district. And two days to come and sit and discuss and respond to the needs of the sector. I am confident that that will be very beneficial to us. And, you know, the Commission got itself involved in it because of the belief that there's something beneficial for the course of small scale mining. In my opinion, small scale mining has come to stay. And it will be in Ghana's interest to put more energy and more effort into the sector to let it work. I think an ideal situation would be to have a financial institution or a bank that is really dedicated to the mining sector just like we have a great development bank, the energy bank. I think that would be great. I have strong hopes for this dialogue. There's something good will come out of it. But more importantly, after the dialogue, the implementation.