AT least 1,200 excavators have been impound­ed at the Tema port pending validation and once cleared, these excavators will be enrolled on the Minerals Commission's GPS tracking sys­tem for real-time monitoring.A pilot project is already tracking 191 excavators in the Minerals Commission's dedicated control room."The development of a cen­tralised digital platform, the Gha­na Mine Repository and Tracking Software, is at an advanced stage.

This platform will serve as the single point of integration for all relevant agencies, including Min­istry of Finance (GRA-Customs Division)."This came to light when the Minister of Lands and Forestry, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, took his turn at the Government Accountability Series last Wednes­day.The Minister revealed that all nine critical forest reserves, previously seized by armed illegal miners, have been successfully re­claimed and were no longer under illegal occupation."Within forest reserves alone, over 5,500 hectares (equivalent to 7,500 football fields) have been degraded.

I am pleased to an­nounce that, in collaboration with the law enforcement agencies, the Forestry Commission has success­fully repossessed all nine red-zoned forest reserves previously occupied by armed gangs protecting illegal miners," the Minister stated.On the Tree-for -Life initiative, the minister said the current prog­ress reports indicated that as of mid-July 2025, approximately 7.6 million seedlings (25 per cent of the target) have been successfully distributed and planted nationwide.

Notably, the private sector has contributed significantly to these efforts, accounting for 2.3 million of the planted seedlings.He added that the Blue Water Initiative within its first 120 days to address water pollution from illegal mining activities had trained and deployed over 980 personnel to date.