Ghana Gold Research Articles

Regulatory Framework for Gold Mining in Ghana: An Analysis of Damongo’s Mining Sector

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory framework governing gold mining in Ghana, with a specific focus on Damongo, a rapidly growing mining hub in the Northern Region. Ghana's gold mining sector, a major contributor to the nation's economy, faces significant challenges despite its economic benefits. These challenges include severe environmental degradation, mercury contamination, and social issues exacerbated by inadequate regulatory enforcement. This article examines the existing regulatory framework, which includes key legislative acts such as the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, and the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994, alongside a network of regulatory institutions like the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minerals Commission. Utilizing Damongo as a case study, this research reveals critical inefficiencies in the local regulatory system, particularly in combating illegal mining activities and managing environmental and social impacts. Findings indicate that while gold mining has stimulated economic growth and provided employment opportunities, it has also led to negative consequences such as increased health problems, social vices, and reduced agricultural productivity. The study underscores the need for more robust regulatory practices, improved institutional capacity, and enhanced community involvement in environmental governance. Comparative insights from regulatory practices in other jurisdictions, such as Australia and Canada, highlight the potential benefits of adopting stricter environmental regulations, comprehensive impact assessments, and better coordination among regulatory agencies. The article concludes with recommendations for strengthening Ghana’s regulatory framework, including increased investment in regulatory institutions, improved enforcement mechanisms, and the promotion of sustainable mining practices. This study aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on mining regulation and sustainability, providing actionable insights for policymakers and stakeholders involved in the governance of Ghana’s gold mining sector.

Governing the Ungovernable? Conceptualising embeddedness in Ghana's gold mining sector

The term “artisanal” refers to primitive, non-industrial, or pre-industrial handicrafts. Because they contribute less revenue to state agencies, produce lower mineral export volumes, apply less sophisticated technologies, frequently violate mining certification and licensing arrangements and/or evade state oversight, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities are typically viewed less favourably by host governments than large-scale mining. Despite commitments to render ASM governable, formalisation practices overlook specific dynamics in the sub-sector: notably, the increasing uptake of advanced technologies, its multi-actor nature, and its untold capacity to create employment opportunities and provide adequate raw materials for the domestic jewellery industry. Moreover, unsanctioned mining activities persist despite formalisation efforts. Based on an extensive qualitative study and institutional-level interviews, this article highlights the inevitable complementarities between large-scale mining and ASM. It reveals collaborations between diverse formal and informal actors and institutions that enable and constrain responsible mining in Ghana. It also shows how ASM, and large-scale mining interdependencies maintain each mining scale's operational efficiency and profitability, contributing to this blurring. To grasp the governance challenges in Ghana's gold mining sector, we introduce the “mining-scale embeddedness” framework, focusing on institutional, operational, and actor levels of embeddedness to elucidate dilemmas surrounding gold mining governance.

Geology and Isotope Systematics of Gold Deposits in the Abansuoso Area of the Sefwi Belt, Southwestern Ghana

ABSTRACT This study utilised lithogeochemistry and stable isotope geochemistry to assess the gold mineralisation in the host rocks of the Abansuoso area. It also studied the isotopic signature of hydrothermally altered and unaltered rocks as a tool for the preliminary prospecting of gold in Ghana’s Birimian belt. The research identified a close association between Au and As, Mo, and W, which is characteristic of orogenic gold deposits. The mineralised and unmineralised rocks show similar content of major and trace elements which suggests that the mineralisation did not significantly affect the primary composition of the mineralised rocks. The concentrations of δ18O (8.9‰ to 17.4‰, n = 22, mean = +13.7‰) and δD (−117 to −33‰, n = 22, mean = −57.9‰) in the rocks are comparable to those from other Birimian regions in Ghana and West Africa. The lack of variation in δ18O suggests a system buffered by rocks, with metamorphic fluid originating from rocks with identical δ18O values. However, the effect of mineralisation on the δD values of rocks is substantially more apparent than its effect on the δ18O values of the rocks.

MINERALIZED URBANIZATION IN AFRICA IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY: Becoming Urban through Mining Extraction

AbstractThis article focuses on the urbanizing impact of the post‐millennial mineral boom at artisanal and small‐scale (ASM) or large‐scale (LSM) mining sites in three mineral‐rich countries, involving gold in Ghana, diamonds in Angola, and both minerals in Tanzania. The focus is on comparing the agency of miners and other residents migrating to, settling in, and making the mining site habitable. Their mobility and settlement patterns reveal an urbanization trend marked by population agglomeration and expanding labour complexity, taking distinct forms at the rush and mature stages of gold and diamond ASM and LSM sites. Citing data from household surveys conducted at 12 mining sites, we trace how ‘mineralized urbanization’ propels in‐migration, rising localized purchasing power, and proliferating service sector and trade activities, fuelling both urban demographic and economic change along the mining extraction trajectory. LSM and ASM generate synergies as well as detractive forces, depending on the size, age and history of the mining settlement development. What emerges is the differential development of households and settlements through strategic economic manoeuvring and the rough and tumble of happenstance, underlined by a compelling, albeit fluctuating, trajectory of non‐renewable mineralized urbanization.

Archaeology of Historic Kormantse and the Colonial Trans-Atlantic Encounter

ABSTRACT Today, the name “Kormantse” (alternately Coromantee) continues to evoke significant pride in numerous African diaspora societies who claim descent. Scholars have sometimes cast such heritage claims as based on an “imaginary” reference population. However, Kormantse was a real place populated by real people. This paper reviews an archaeological research project at Historic Kormantse located in coastal Ghana (Gold Coast); the project’s main objective was to examine residents’ cultural responses to the trans-Atlantic colonial encounter. We sought to explain the processes by which settlement populations negotiated their survival since European contact in the sixteenth century. Archaeological traces reflecting exchanges, trade, occupations, burial practices, resistance, and technology are examined here as indices of the community’s identity and responses to changing conditions. The challenge of fully explaining Kormantse’s role in African diaspora cultures is also discussed. While Kormantse diaspora cultural signatures are real, not imagined, our understanding of them remains elusive.

Sustainable development in Ghana's gold mines: Clarifying the stakeholder's perspective

Using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs), this study examined critical stakeholder's perceptions, experiences and competence in assuring the sustainable management of Ghana's major gold mines. The investigation was inspired by a synthesis of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the global community in September 2015; it places human resource capacity at the center of a sustainability struggle between local and international businesses. The findings of this study encompass two opposing but interesting perspectives. On the one hand, the study showed that sustainable development is understood differently by stakeholders within the gold mining sector in Ghana, which is why gold mining companies employ different approaches in their pursuit of sustainability objectives. On the other hand, the study revealed that, as mining activities are similar across different mining companies, common understanding and operation of sustainable development in the country's gold mines is a more practical approach to sustaining mining operations. This study further revealed that to facilitate the effective implementation of sustainable development within Ghana's gold mines and to ensure its alignment with SDGs, a regulatory framework is required and this should be developed based on the input of stakeholders.

The sustainable development conundrum in gold mining: Exploring ‘Open, Prior and Independent Deliberate Discussion’ as a community-centered framework

The role of sustainable development in the gold mining industry has received much attention in the last decade. Yet, implementing sustainable development in this industry has become a complex exercise. Cognizant of the shortfalls in existing frameworks such as the lack of supervision and accountability, we propose a new framework to help enhance the potential contribution of gold mining to sustainable development. Based on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in selected gold mining communities of Ghana, the framework we term ‘Open, Prior, and Independent Deliberate Discussion’ (OPIDD) presents a number of benefits. First, it will help the government take better stock of mining impacts before the commencement of a project. Second, OPIDD will entrench the government's fiduciary role in long-term community development. Third, it offers a benchmark or leverage to negotiate mining agreements that are underpinned by principles of sustainable development. While it could have widespread applicability in resource-rich countries, our proposal draws primarily on insights from Ghana's gold mining industry. We conclude that such a government-led initiative will be effective in revealing the potential developmental benefits of gold mining to host communities and the country at large while making mining companies responsible and accountable.

Portfolio Optimization for Stock Market in Ghana Using Value-at-Risk (VaR)

The study was conducted to identify the performing stocks as well as examine the portfolio optimization with associated Value at Risk (VaR) for some selected stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). A historical data of 15 companies categorized into Financial Stock Index (FSI) and Composite Index (CI) from 2000 to 2017 were obtained from Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and Gold Coast Security (GCS). From the study, ETI, HFC, SIC, TOTAL, FML, UNIL and GOIL stocks were identified to be over performing on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Also, CAL, EBG, ALW, AYRTN, GOIL were identified as aggressive stocks; GCB, SCB, TOTAL, GGBL as defensive stocks; and ETI, HFC, SIC, FML, PZC, UNIL as inversely moving towards the market return. The optimal portfolio asset allocation, for the minimum VaR portfolio showed a marginal diversification in other stocks in the cases of FSI, but greater portion was invested in HFC. However, in the case of CI displayed no indication of diversification in the portfolio as 67.30% of investors invested in AYRTN and only 32.70% in the remaining securities. The study then proceeded to find the optimal portfolio with risk-free asset for both indexes. It was recommended that further study should extend the approaches used by considering Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) as the VaR measure does not give any information about potential losses in the worst cases.

Sustainable development in Ghana's gold mines: Clarifying the stakeholder's perspective

Abstract Using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs), this study examined critical stakeholder's perceptions, experiences and competence in assuring the sustainable management of Ghana's major gold mines. The investigation was inspired by a synthesis of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the global community in September 2015; it places human resource capacity at the center of a sustainability struggle between local and international businesses. The findings of this study encompass two opposing but interesting perspectives. On the one hand, the study showed that sustainable development is understood differently by stakeholders within the gold mining sector in Ghana, which is why gold mining companies employ different approaches in their pursuit of sustainability objectives. On the other hand, the study revealed that, as mining activities are similar across different mining companies, common understanding and operation of sustainable development in the country's gold mines is a more practical approach to sustaining mining operations. This study further revealed that to facilitate the effective implementation of sustainable development within Ghana's gold mines and to ensure its alignment with SDGs, a regulatory framework is required and this should be developed based on the input of stakeholders.

Epistemological Views Analyses of Plastic Fabrics Artistic Iconography in Sub-Saharan Africa

This piece of work on Sub-Saharan Africa Iconography expresses as objective the idealistic fabrics that enrich the cultural background that emanated or began from ancient Egypt during the prehistoric times and meaning images in Greek language. It was used by an artist or artists to covey particular meanings, this later move in to Greece and to other parts of the world. This has become very important to Sub-Sahara Africa like Egypt, Libya (Nubian), Senegal, Ghana (Gold Coast), Benin (Dahomey) Kenya, South Africa, Mali, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and others. The breaking down of these wealthy resources as objects goes a long way to illustrate the quality substances and technical sense or knowledge in manufacturing and constructing. It should be noted that this followed a methodology, with the passing of time these Sub Sahara African Iconography has been transform to an extend gaining admirable and enjoyable plastics characteristics with a lot of meaningful interpretation from the artistic works. As a result, Sub-Saharan Africa Iconography embodied some aspects like The United States of America constructed structures in University of Dschang, Ekok and Bonaberi Bridges as Architectural Developments, the Nok-Head and carved Head of Juju Nkwifon in the Bafut palace as Sculptural advancements, Ceremonial Grassfields and Igbo Traditional Dress and Painting, a Queen Mother Head in Bafut as indicated signs of progress in Paintings, also the Egyptian hieroglyphics developed, the Shumum of the Bamoun kingdom also developed involving others like the Senegalese Wolof and kenyan Swahilis as Writings skills, has been crackdown through explanations and are very significant. They are very rich and these have given birth and rebirth to Sub Sahara African civilizations. Therefore, our notion is also to make known and comprehend that all that originated from Sub-Saharan Africa and left, returned in several folds. All has helped to build the Society. This piece of work has been developed with the help of documents, artistic pictures from Snap-shuts and museum, interviews and facts from internet sources.

Gold in Ghana: The effects of changes in large-scale mining on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

Two scales of gold mining operations, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and large-scale mining, have operated side by side in Ghana for decades. In the past, the two co-existed on the same mineralised land without much contact or conflict, as large-scale mining occurred underground and ASM operated mainly on the surface. With the former’s transition from an underground labour-intensive mining operation to capital-intensive surface activity, however, opportunities for wage employment have reduced leading to labour retrenchment. Using an informalisation theoretical framework, and drawing on fieldwork conducted in the three gold mining towns of Obuasi, Prestea and Kenyasi, this paper explores how the interface between large-scale mining and ASM has evolved. It is shown how the loss of wage employment opportunities in large-scale mining has contributed to the proliferation of illegal ASM operations. As large-scale surface mining operations have reduced access to mineralised land by ASM, the latter have encroached on to the concessions of the former resulting in conflicts between these parties. It is ASM rather than large-scale mining, however, that is sustaining local economies in Ghana. As the economic well-being of mining towns is linked largely to the fortune of their mining economies, it is imperative that an innovative approach is adopted by the state in addressing the need for ASMs to access mineralised land.

Challenges and opportunities of environmental policy implementation: Empirical evidence from Ghana's gold mining sector

While a number of studies that have examined the nature and impact of gold mining in Ghana have often identified environmental degradation as a major consequence of resource extraction, limited efforts have so far been directed at exploring the challenges and opportunities facing the implementation of environmental policies within Ghana's gold mining sector. In addition, how the views of critical stakeholders can be harnessed to ensure the effective implementation of the current environmental policies in the gold mining sector has also received limited attention. Consequently, drawing on qualitative data that are complemented with the analysis of government policy documents, this study reveals that, lack of community participation, insufficient coordination among government institutions, inadequate personnel and logistics, and lack of political will are factors contributing to the ineffective implementation of environmental policies in Ghana's gold mining sector. The paper concludes by considering the theoretical and policy implication of its findings for effective environmental policy implementation in Ghana.

Governing access to gold in Ghana: in-depth geopolitics on mining concessions

AbstractStudies of articulations between large- and small-scale mining have overlooked the subterranean dimension of extraction and ignored how mining companies and artisanal miners cohabit in places with long histories of small-scale mining and are affected by their different capacities to access specific mineral deposits. Drawing on a study of two gold concessions in Ghana, this article focuses on three factors that influence modalities of governing access to gold in such sites: the stage of a mining operation, the local socio-political context, and the characteristics of the subterranean structure. We call the combination and interplay of these factors ‘in-depth geopolitics’. The article shows how this interplay affects the strategies used by both large- and small-scale miners to work out arrangements of cohabitation and ways of governing access, control and maintenance to gold in spatial settings where both types of gold mining occur side by side. By tracing ethnographically the variations of ‘in-depth geopolitics’, this article critically engages with ideas of subterranean sovereignty, mining enclaves, state–company–community relations, and the socio-spatial characteristics of mining concessions.

Green supply chain practices and performance in Ghana's mining industry: a comparative evaluation based on DEMATEL and AHP

We introduce a comprehensive framework for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) implementation in the mining industry. The framework includes six constructs, green information technology and systems, strategic supplier partnership, operations and logistics integration, internal environmental management, eco-innovative and end-of-life. Environmentally sustainable supply chain management practices in Ghana's gold mining industry are examined using DEMATEL and the analytical hierarchy process. The evaluation models found that strategic supplier partnership and end-of-life practices are the two most prominent and influential factors whereas lean and green operations, substituting toxic inputs with environmentally friendly ones and resale of used parts or components are prominent sub-factors. This study and resulting framework allows practicing managers in the mining industry to make thoughtful decisions on SSCM.

Green supply chain practices and performance in Ghana's mining industry: a comparative evaluation based on DEMATEL and AHP

We introduce a comprehensive framework for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) implementation in the mining industry. The framework includes six constructs, green information technology and systems, strategic supplier partnership, operations and logistics integration, internal environmental management, eco-innovative and end-of-life. Environmentally sustainable supply chain management practices in Ghana's gold mining industry are examined using DEMATEL and the analytical hierarchy process. The evaluation models found that strategic supplier partnership and end-of-life practices are the two most prominent and influential factors whereas lean and green operations, substituting toxic inputs with environmentally friendly ones and resale of used parts or components are prominent sub-factors. This study and resulting framework allows practicing managers in the mining industry to make thoughtful decisions on SSCM.

Black gold in Ghana: Changing livelihoods for women in communities affected by oil production

This paper explores women's diverse situations in the oil-producing coastal communities of Western Ghana, and the institutions that frame those situations. It examines how women's private and public spaces have been reformulated by the production of oil in their community. The study engaged in different forms of qualitative inquiry: focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and participant observation. Findings reveal the oil exploration and production in Ghana has spawned a new social order in which women's activities and livelihoods are invisible, thereby increasing their vulnerabilities. The case provides valuable insight for understanding the potential gender imbalances the oil industry may produce, and aims to assist government officials with framing policies to preempt or mitigate some of the adverse community-level impacts that may arise.

Grievance and conflict in Ghana's gold mining industry: The case of Obuasi

This paper critically explores the key issues of grievance and conflict unfolding in Ghana's gold mining industry. It examines the dynamics of conflict between illegal artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) and one large-scale mining company, AngloGold Ashanti, in Obuasi. The paper reveals the peculiar nature of the Obuasi ASM-mining company conflict in which grievance seems to factor minimally in explaining the cause. The recent escalation of illegal mining activity on the company's concession has, at times, sparked disputes and violent clashes between the parties. What makes the Obuasi situation unique, however, is that the dispute is not based on grievance over land expropriation per se, as the majority of illegal miners are non-natives who have no ancestral links to the area. It is rather a dispute purely over control of gold resources. The ASM-mining company conflict in Obuasi, therefore, is more of an economically-motivated conflict, which potentially has a longer duration than typical justice-seeking disputes. The formation of a formidable informal association by the illegal miners in Obuasi has proved indispensable in ensuring short-term survival and is potentially a key strategy for ameliorating future disputes in Obuasi.

Black gold in Ghana: crude days for fishers and farmers?

The relationship between the exploration, production, and development of black gold, the local economy, and the local environment and how that, in turn, relates to the social and labour conditions of food and fish producers is relatively understudied. Orthodox economists typically use the notion of “resource curse” which, being a macroeconomic frame, does not provide for variegated, simultaneous, and complex processes of accumulation, contradictions, and displacement at the local level. This paper examines such processes in the Western Region of Ghana, an oil frontier in Africa. It uses multiple data sources such as surveys and analyses the evidence within Harvey's framework of “accumulation by dispossession”. While there seem to be no clear evidence of massive pollution and hence dispossession of the populations living off the land and the sea in the oil “zone”, there are tell tales about crude days ahead, related to enclosures and expropriation. Institutional strengthening may help to resolve the impending tensions, but such reform is incapable of addressing systemic problems of growing imbalance in the power relations among the players in the oil industry.

Linkages in Ghana's gold mining industry: Challenging the enclave thesis

By 2009, Ghana was the second-ranked African producer after South Africa, and had become the world's ninth largest producer of gold, at some 3.8% of global production, up from 2.6% five years earlier. Gold production volumes and revenues rose significantly over the decade from 2000. Yet gold mining tends to be perceived negatively in Ghana, and is seen as providing far less than it should in terms of public revenue, employment, skills development and spillovers, and localised economic development. Gold mining is often depicted as having an enclave status, disconnected and isolated from the rest of the economy. In contrast, the research findings here demonstrate that after a period of strong investment and growth, gold mining can no longer be viewed as an enclave activity: it is in fact more deeply linked into the Ghanaian economy than hitherto understood, through a set of as yet under-researched but promising economic linkages, notably backward linkages, which can potentially be strengthened by policy and support measures.

Impacts of Surface Gold Mining on Land Use Systems in Western Ghana

Land use conflicts are becoming increasingly apparent from local to global scales. Surface gold mining is an extreme source of such a conflict, but mining impacts on local livelihoods often remain unclear. Our goal here was to assess land cover change due to gold surface mining in Western Ghana, one of the world's leading gold mining regions, and to study how these changes affected land use systems. We used Landsat satellite images from 1986-2002 to map land cover change and field interviews with farmers to understand the livelihood implications of mining-related land cover change. Our results showed that surface mining resulted in deforestation (58%), a substantial loss of farmland (45%) within mining concessions, and widespread spill-over effects as relocated farmers expand farmland into forests. This points to rapidly eroding livelihood foundations, suggesting that the environmental and social costs of Ghana's gold boom may be much higher than previously thought.