Mechanization of Illegal Gold Mining Threatens Ghana’s Forests

Mongabay has reported that the mechanization of gold mining is accelerating the destruction of forests and farms, as well as polluting waterways in northern and eastern Ghana. In recent years, illegal miners known as galamseyers have been sourcing machinery from China. Traditionally, small-scale miners in Ghana have used manual tools like pickaxes and sieves. In the early 2000s, miners from China began to migrate to Ghana. Chinese miners imported more sophisticated machinery such as diggers, water pumps and bulldozers, which gradually replaced the crude methods and tools used by Ghanaian miners. The Chinese miners out compete existing self-employed Ghanaian artisanal miners, resulting in loss of livelihoods of the latter, forcing Mechanized mining is causing severe damage to local ecosystems. First of all, clearing the topsoil causes deforestation. The landscape has changed and there is an effect on biodiversity. The digging operation destroys the soil’s original nature profile and minerals as the different ground layers are mixed up. The life in the soil disappears. It becomes difficult for plants to survive on this land. Currently, Ghana is the second-largest gold producer in Africa and eighth-largest in the world, with a reported output of 117 metric tons in 2021. Gold production in Ghana includes both large-scale mining, which is largely dominated by multinational corporations, and small-scale mining, which by law is restricted to Ghanaians only. About a million Ghanaians engage in a practice that supports about 4.5 million of the country’s 32 million people. However, only 15% of these miners legally declare their activities.

Mechanization of Illegal Gold Mining Threatens Ghana’s Forests

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