The roundtable brought together stakeholders such as community activists, mining companies, state mining regulatory agencies and development partners.

It was aimed at teasing out possible options for the development of mining communities in the country.

Its objective was to bring about clarity, understanding and transparency to the issues around royalty allocations and how they can be used for the development of mining communities.

Mr Andrews Barnes, the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, said Australia seeks to contribute towards improving the efficiency of mineral rights administration, revenue mobilization and royalties' management for Ghana's long term development.

"There is no question that exploitation of Ghana's vast mineral resources can make a strong contribution to local development. It is, however, important that the right structures and systems exit to ensure that that mining revenues lead to economic development and deliver improvements in the living standards of local people," he said.

"If the mining companies are paying their corporate taxes, their payroll taxes, their royalty taxes, and undertaking corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects in the communities in which they are operating, but still towns like Obuasi remain underdeveloped and without basic services, something is obviously not right with the governance systems and structures."

Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said the Government is committed to ensuring the availability of resources for the development of mining communities, as well as other communities, through the proper management of mineral resources for today's generation as well as future ones.

Mr Richard Ellimah, the Executive Director, Centre for Social Impact Studies, said the continuous underdevelopment of mining communities was a threat to national security; citing violent riots in Tarkwa over bad roads.