Galamsey: Ghana's illegal gold mining industry causes environmental destruction

Water from a polluted river in Ghana was so thick and discoloured that an artist was able to use it as paint to depict the environmental devastation caused by the illegal gold mining that has spread like wildfire in the resource-rich West African state.

This is the term used by locals to describe the illegal mining taking place at thousands of sites around the country - including the forested regions famous for their cocoa farms, as well as their vast gold deposits. Communities along the river - one of the biggest in Ghana - lamented to Apeti that the water was "once so clean that you could see the fish and crocodiles that lived in it", but it had been transformed "into a yellowish-brown body of water".Black Sherif - who hails from Konongo town in the Ashanti region, which has been badly affected by the illegal mining - stopped his set at The Tidal Rave Concert in Accra earlier this month to show a video of the devastation.

But Chinese businessmen - who first moved to Ghana around 18 years ago - have made it a more sophisticated industry. "Illegal small-scale mining has been taking place for decades in Ghana. However, in recent years, it has been getting out of control, having catastrophic effects," he said. Highlighting the dangers of this, Dr George Manful, a former senior official in Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, said: "Mercury can remain in water for up to 1,000 years. The water in these rivers is so turbid that it is undrinkable."

The illegal mining has also affected cocoa production, with the Ghana Cocoa Board saying in 2021 that more than 19,000 hectares of farmland had been destroyed in key cocoa-growing areas like the Western and Ashanti regions. The farmer, who asked not to be identified, said she feared that the crisis would continue if the powerful individuals behind the illegal mining were not arrested and prosecuted.

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