The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has appealed to mining companies operating in Ghana to redeem their bad image.

He observed that the mining industry's reputation for conservation of ecological biodiversity for the benefit of future generations leaves much to be desired.

"Therefore you must begin, if you have not already done so, to change this negative image of the industry. This repositioning means listening carefully to the legitimate concerns of stakeholders, and addressing them in concrete and practical ways," the Minister appealed.

Alhaji Dauda made the appeal at the 81st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, held in Accra over the weekend.

He called on the captains of the mining industry to adapt approaches to reflect more explicitly the balance needed to be achieved in the economic, environmental and social spheres, so as to attain real sustainable development in the country, especially in the mining communities.

As part of the current generation, the mining companies must include future generations and their needs in their operations. That is to say, it must be possible for the current generation to meet their needs, without compromising the ability of future generations to their own, Alhaji Dauda urged.

The President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr. Jurgen Eijgendaal, called on the government to plough back at 30% of its share of the mineral royalties into infrastructure projects in the mining communities.

He gave the assurance that this would augment the industry's efforts, and cumulatively rebound very well on the government and the host communities.

Reviewing the 2008 performance of the mining industry, Mr. Eijgendaal disclosed that 63% of mineral revenue last year was directly returned to the country through the Bank of Ghana, and some commercial banks.

He further disclosed that the mining industry deployed 22% of its revenue to procure inputs locally, besides the 13% and 8% used to procure diesel and electric power locally.

In sum, producing member companies procured 47% of all their inputs, and 71% of their consumables locally during the period under review.

According to him, the general state of insecurity, and the spate of illegal mining, was rather rampant during the year under reference.

He cited several cases of illegal mining were reported at the Golden Star Bogoso/Prestea Mines, Gold Fields Damang mines, as well as AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi mine.

In his welcome address, the 1st Vice President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr. Dan Owiredu, noted that one of the greatest challenges facing the mining industry was the creative integration of mining as an economic activity within the imperative of environmental integrity and social concerns.