The Director of Cabinet for the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Yaya Sankara, gave the opening speech at the workshop to draw up the interministerial annual report on the status and management of the mine rehabilitation and closure fund for the year 2022, this Thursday morning, 16 November 2023.
The workshop to draw up the interministerial annual report on the status and management of the mine rehabilitation and closure fund is a forum for sharing and capitalising on the experience gained in environmental management in general and the management of the mine rehabilitation and closure fund in particular, said Yaya Sankara.
Indeed, the paragraph 4 of Article 27 of Law no. 036-2015/CNT of 26 June 2015 on the Mining Code of Burkina Faso stipulates that the Ministries in charge of Mines, the Environment and Finance must produce an exhaustive and comprehensive joint annual report on the status and management of the mine rehabilitation and closure fund.
This workshop is therefore a response to this duty of accountability to stakeholders in the mining sector and to public opinion, and to take stock of the environmental governance of mines.
According to the organisers, the aim of the workshop is to take stock of the contributions made by the various mining companies, to identify the difficulties encountered in rehabilitating and closing down industrial and semi-mechanised mining sites and industrial quarries, and to suggest ways forward.
In terms of prospects, the previous annual reports highlighted the need to “set up a monitoring and rehabilitation department within the Ministry of Mines and Quarries to take charge of the rehabilitation aspect and bring it to a successful conclusion”, which is now a reality, according to the Director of Mines and Geology, Mr Aristide Belemsobgo.
Nevertheless, there are still challenges to be met, and the Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Mines took the opportunity to call for inter-ministerial players to join forces to improve the governance of the fund and the rehabilitation of mining sites.
As a reminder, the article 25 of the Mining Code created various funds, including the “Mine Rehabilitation and Closure Fund”.
Work on this joint annual report for 2022 began on 15 November and will end on 24 November 2023. A 23-member drafting committee has been set up for this purpose.
Moniratou BANDE
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