Is Ghana losing the war against 'galamsey' mining?
Between 2017 and 2024, Ghana's former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's administration launched an aggressive campaign against illegal small-scale mining, also known as galamsey, in a bid to restore the country's dying lands and waterbodies.
The campaign involved the burning of heavy machines and excavators seized at galamsey sites. A lot of arrests of Chinese nationals, who are mainly behind the acts with locals, were also made.
Despite these strides, the campaign seems to have yielded little as environmental destruction worsens. Illegal miners now dig in the open with no fear of authority.
To counter this menace, President John Dramani Mahama's government has also put in motion an intense war by instituting the Goldbod, a body which is now in charge of everything gold and other precious minerals.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is also not sitting back and has equally rolled out a mining skills programme dubbed the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), to promote ethical mining.
On the journey to the outdooring of this initiative in Obuasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, eight precious souls lost their lives.
These eight, including the Minister of Defence, Edward Omane Boamah and the Minister of Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, were killed in a military helicopter crash on August 6.
Major destruction from galamsey so far
Although illegal mining contributes over one-third of Ghana’s gold production, it costs the state approximately $2 billion annually in lost tax revenue.
Up to 60% of Ghana’s surface water sources, including key rivers like the Ankobra and Pra, are contaminated with hazardous levels of mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals.
Additionally, polluted water has impaired the Ghana Water Company’s capacity by up to 75%, leading to possible reliance on expensive water imports by 2030.
More than 4,726 hectares of forest and riverine areas have been destroyed, affecting 34 out of Ghana’s 288 forest reserves. Over 190,000 acres of cocoa farmland have been lost, either seized by miners or degraded through encroachment.
Current reforms
President John Dramani Mahama, in April 2025, established the Ghana Gold Board (Goldbod) to regulate and check mining in the country.
Under the Goldbod Act, the body is the only powerful, centralised body mandated to oversee the entire gold value chain from licensing and assaying to buying, refining, and exporting gold. GoldBod replaces prior fragmentation to bring structure and control to the sector.
Under the reform, foreigners are barred from directly trading or purchasing gold domestically, and all gold trade must be conducted through GoldBod, in the Ghanaian cedi. This move aims to retain value within national channels and strengthen oversight
Additionally, the Act empowers GoldBod with enhanced monitoring, surveillance, increased penalties, and the establishment of specialised task forces to clamp down on illegal mining and gold smuggling. It also enforces stricter border controls and customs procedures.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
