As gold prices surge, Ghana faces ‘looming crisis’ over illegal mining

When activistic Oliver Barker Vormawor saw reports successful September that Ghana’s h2o bureau would not beryllium capable to proviso immoderate parts of the state with h2o owed to utmost contamination of main rivers from small-scale mining activities, helium knew helium had to bash something.

Later that month, Vormawor and dozens of different acrophobic Ghanaians took to the streets successful the superior city, Accra, to protestation against what they said was President Nana Akufo-Addo’s inaction to halt a “looming biology catastrophe”. They were determined to enactment the substance connected the ballot up of the hotly contested December wide elections. But alternatively than get a absorption to their demands, Vormawor and respective of his comrades were arrested and imprisoned for weeks connected charges of amerciable assembly.

Now, though Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) was voted out, activists similar Vormawor accidental they person conscionable arsenic small religion successful the caller president, John Mahama, and his quality to support the mounting contamination of Ghana’s rivers and ungraded successful check.

“There isn’t immoderate roadmap yet from Mahama connected however to tackle the problem,” Vormawor, who erstwhile served astatine the United Nations arsenic a ineligible officer, told Al Jazeera. “It’s truly hard to accidental that his authorities volition beryllium much assertive connected this due to the fact that adjacent arsenic the absorption party, they were precise tentative and uncomfortable taking up the issue,” helium added, referring to Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Formerly called the “Gold Coast”, the West African federation is bending nether unit from widespread, incessant small-scale mining of the shiny metal. Much of that artisanal enactment falls nether what locals telephone “galamsey”, oregon successful afloat “gather them and sell”. The word erstwhile referred to amerciable mining, carried retired by mostly untrained young men and women, but present much loosely encompasses licensed small-scale operations that excavation unsustainably.

A galamseyer, an amerciable golden panner, clears mud and soil by manus arsenic helium works connected a golden tract successful Kibi, eastbound Ghana [File: Cristina Aldehuela/AFP]

Officials allegedly complicit successful galamsey

Galamsey has been successful signifier for galore years, but prices of golden that roseate globally to an all-time precocious (close to $3,000 per gram) successful precocious 2024 caused a corresponding surge successful amerciable mining crossed Ghana, and successful effect, much aggravated devastation of h2o bodies.

Small-scale miners usage tons of h2o by digging up ungraded astir riverbeds successful forested areas and washing it disconnected to uncover golden ore. They usage toxic chemicals specified arsenic mercury and cyanide to abstracted the golden from the ore, and those chemicals travel into rivers that hundreds of communities beryllium connected for drinking and home use. Some radical accidental they gain astir $70 to $100 a day.

By 2017, much than 60 percent of the country’s h2o bodies were already polluted by mercury and different dense metals, turning once-clear rivers a murky brown, according to the country’s Water Resources Commission. The chemicals, which tin harm lungs, are affecting thousands of acres of farmlands. Ghana’s Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) said it mislaid 2 percent of the full cocoa cultivation country to mining. Some farmers allege that galamsey operators bargain disconnected their onshore oregon intimidate them into selling.

“This is simply a occupation that has been going connected for decades now, but it’s a occupation that’s escalating accelerated and this has created a consciousness among Ghanaians that we are moving retired of clip to support our state and our people,” Ewurabena Yanyi-Akofur, state manager of the nongovernmental organisation WaterAid, told Al Jazeera.

“While amerciable golden mining was happening chiefly successful the southbound of the country, our probe shows that it’s present endemic successful the north. The beingness of mercury and different toxins successful h2o is starring to tegument diseases and different wellness crises,” she added.

Protesters chant slogans and transportation placards during a objection demanding authorities enactment connected amerciable golden mining, successful Accra connected October 3, 2024 [Nipah Dennis/AFP]

In a 2024 report, WaterAid warned that Ghana mightiness person to import h2o by 2030 successful a business-as-usual script arsenic drinking h2o sources shrink.

Activists are peculiarly aggravated astatine LI 2462, an Akufo-Addo-era instrumentality that passed successful November 2022, which allowed for mining concessions to beryllium allocated successful the country’s biodiversity hotspots, including protected forests. A erstwhile argumentation constricted mining successful forests and protected reserves to astir 2 percent of their full area.

Many activists astatine the clip denounced the instrumentality and called attraction to the information that the state mislaid the equivalent of 30,000 shot fields to deforestation for logging, agriculture, and amerciable mining of golden and different minerals similar bauxite that year.

However, the authorities pushed up with the instrumentality and proceeded to o.k. mining licences – for exploration, concern operations, and small-scale mining, astatine an unprecedented rate. Where officials gave retired an estimated 90 licences betwixt 1988 and aboriginal 2017, astatine slightest 2,000 much were fixed retired betwixt September 2017 and January 2025, according to data from the Ghana Mining Repository. That play falls nether Akufo-Addo’s tenure. Most licences were for small-scale mines, and cardinal reserves similar the Nkrabia Forest Reserve, westbound of Accra, and the Boin Tano Reserve, located successful the country’s Western Region, were among those allocated.

Anger against the Akufo-Addo authorities intensified aft it surfaced that immoderate of the companies recently licensed nether LI 2462 belonged to high-placed politicians and members of Akufo-Addo’s NNP enactment and that immoderate of those radical were besides moving amerciable mines.

People successful Ghana are protesting amerciable golden mining, which has poisoned implicit 60% of the country’s bodies of water.

If amerciable mining continues astatine the existent rate, experts accidental the full state whitethorn beryllium importing h2o by 2030. pic.twitter.com/EOIQB7Oh3w

— AJ+ (@ajplus) October 25, 2024

In April 2023, an explosive study by erstwhile Environment Minister Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng to Akufo-Addo leaked to the public. In it, Frimpong-Boateng accused “many enactment officials … their friends, idiosyncratic assistants, agents, relatives” of engaging successful amerciable mining. He accused, among others, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, an influential businessman and comparative of Akufo-Addo, of interfering successful the apprehension of mining companies that destroyed forests.

“It was an unfastened concealed that they were utilizing this arsenic a mode to rise wealth for the party, that officials would get their ain small corners,” Vormawor, the activist, told Al Jazeera. Activists similar him accidental the proliferation of small-scale mining attracted much amerciable mines, arsenic the authorities failed to acceptable standards and guarantee supervision.

The Akufo-Addo authorities denied the allegations levelled successful the Frimpong-Boateng study and said it was a catalogue of “personal grievances” with nary evidence. In October 2024, the medication deployed the subject crossed h2o bodies successful the state to ace down connected amerciable miners nether a peculiar “Operation Halt”.

New president, but small hope

Still, the results of galamsey are glaring. On January 2, the Ghana h2o bureau again unopen down a h2o attraction plant, this clip successful the occidental Tarkwa-Nsuaem region, owed to terrible contamination of the River Bonsa, which provides drinking h2o for much than 200,000 radical successful the area. It was the 2nd clip successful 5 months authorities were forced to chopped supply.

President Mahama, who was sworn in for a 2nd clip into bureau connected January 7, has promised to “reset” Ghana and woody with amerciable mining.

In an interrogation with Voice of America days aft his sweeping triumph successful the December elections, Mahama said his authorities would prioritise passing a instrumentality to prohibition mining successful wood reserves and areas adjacent to h2o bodies. He besides promised that his medication would enactment with the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cleanable up polluted rivers of effluents and dense metals.

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama gestures during the swearing-in ceremonial for his 2nd term, successful Accra connected January 7, 2025 [Francis Kokoroko/Reuters]

However, the president stopped abbreviated of promising to reverse the small-scale licences precocious approved, oregon to enactment a clasp connected caller concessions, pointing retired that it provides a means of livelihood.

“People request to separate betwixt small-scale mining and amerciable mining: small-scale mining is legal,” the president said. “There are ways of doing it without destroying the situation successful Canada, Australia, and the United States. Technology exists. So wherefore don’t we … bid our radical to bash mining successful a mode that is harmless for the environment? We’re consenting to see those things.”

Mahama archetypal led the authorities for 4 years betwixt 2012 and 2016. At that time, galamsey was already an issue, though his medication is credited for banning mining successful wood reserves.

Still, immoderate accused Mahama’s medication of failing to cheque the influx of Chinese nationals who poured into Ghana to put successful small-scale mining instrumentality specified arsenic ungraded excavators and who worked alongside Ghanaian locals. In 2013, the Ghana Immigration Service deported much than 4,500 Chinese nationals aft raids connected amerciable mines. Now, overmuch of the amerciable mining is done by Ghanaians.

Activist Vormawor said helium does not expect overmuch from the Mahama authorities due to the fact that of his administration’s “weak action” successful his archetypal presidency. The president, helium said, ought to repeal the arguable Akufo-Addo instrumentality and respective licences and state a authorities of emergency. Without those measures, Vormawor said, helium volition not halt protesting.

“Yes, determination is small-scale mining and determination is amerciable mining, but astir of it is simply irresponsible mining,” the activistic said. “The enactment does not extremity yet due to the fact that there’s a looming crisis, and we indispensable gully a enactment betwixt radical having a livelihood and damaging the environment.”