Mr Jackson told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Ho that by these measures government would be well positioned to track and buy from the small scale miners.

He said the skills of the galamseyers cannot be discounted in extracting the metals since they were better placed and skilled. "When illegal miners are licensed, we know where they are working and can buy from them," he said.

Mr Jackson said the Embassy's focus in the anti-galamsey fight was in the protection of water quality. "For a number of years, we have had programmes working with Ghana's Environmental Protection Agency on water and air quality and we are continuing those efforts."

Mr Jackson said the fight against galamsey would be won as pointers from a recent visit to some illegal mining sites revealed that there was inactivity. He commended the media coalition and the activities of civil society organisations for making the anti-galamsey fight personal and corporate.