Mining In Ghana Research Articles

Large scale mining in Ghana: a review of the implications on the host communities

Following the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in 1983, Ghana’s mining sector has experienced significant growth, making Ghana one of the 10-leading producers of gold globally and the largest in Africa since 2018. To this end, the mining industry has been contributing significantly to the country’s total export earnings and the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite its contribution to the economy, mining in Ghana has been a subject of debate in the past few years due to its diverse impacts on the host communities. This study therefore conducted a review of the implications of large-scale mining in Ghana. Findings revealed that, mining activities gravely affect the quality of water in most mining communities due to the use of toxic substances such as mercury. Mining activities also destroy forest reserves and farmlands, cause respiratory diseases and death. The study therefore suggests an effective collaboration between all relevant stakeholders in monitoring mining activities to help mitigate the impacts on the host communities.

Injury severity and influence factors in surface mines: A correspondence analysis

In this study, injury data from surface mines in Ghana was analysed using correspondence analysis. The overall objective of the study was to investigate the association between five injury levels, namely fatality, permanent disability, temporary disability, days away from work and restricted work injury, and four accident factors, namely job title, location, time and cause. The four accident factors exemplify the well-known accident classification scheme of who, where, when and why. 206 accidents resulting in a minimum of restricted work injury were analysed. Preliminary analysis showed that days away from work was the dominant injury, and most of the accidents occurred after 6 h of work. With respect to location, job title and cause; fixed workshop, mechanic/repairmen and moving components/parts respectively accounted for most of the injuries. Results of the correspondence analysis showed that locations, job titles and hazards related to actual mining operations precipitate high consequence accidents such as fatalities and disabling injuries than the other job titles, locations and hazards. From the correspondence analysis, it was observed that “involvement in actual mining operations”, “night shift”, and “after 6 h of work” are hidden causes of high consequence accidents, and priority areas for accident reduction. These results offer opportunities for developing injury prevention strategies and their practical implications have been discussed. Specifically, the study was able to identify some hidden causes of accident, which are important prerequisite for accident prevention. For instance, “6 h of work” was identified as a hidden cause of accident, suggesting that safety measures are required to protect workers who work more than 6 h in a day, and are involved in actual mining operation, since they have a higher risk of injury than other workers.

Gold mining in Ghana and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring community perspectives on social and environmental injustices

AbstractAlthough gold mining multinational or transnational companies continue to profit from their activities in resource endowed developing countries, the gap between company profits and social and environmental justice in these resource rich developing countries is a subject of intense debate. This debate is especially heightened when the gap is examined in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper employs the Environmental Justice concept to assess the activities of the Goldfields Damang mining company in Ghana vis‐à‐vis the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing on primary data from semi‐structured interviews (n = 22) and secondary sources, the paper finds that the negative impacts of gold mining do not conform with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially goals 2, 6, 14 and 15. The study makes two recommendations: First, policies on land tenure and the Mineral and Mining Act need revisions to incorporate more rights for indigenous people; second, existing structures and legislation that spells out compensation and land dispossession practices must be revised thoroughly to align with the UN sustainable development goals. The paper concludes by considering the theoretical and policy implications of the findings for strengthening mining laws and policies in Ghana.

Elucidating Pathfinding Elements from the Kubi Gold Mine in Ghana

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) are applied to investigate the properties of fine-grained concentrates on artisanal, small-scale gold mining samples from the Kubi Gold Project of the Asante Gold Corporation near Dunwka-on-Offin in the Central Region of Ghana. Both techniques show that the Au-containing residual sediments are dominated by the host elements Fe, Ag, Al, N, O, Si, Hg, and Ti that either form alloys with gold or with inherent elements in the sediments. For comparison, a bulk nugget sample mainly consisting of Au forms an electrum, i.e., a solid solution with Ag. Untreated (impure) sediments, fine-grained Au concentrate, coarse-grained Au concentrate, and processed ore (Au bulk/nugget) samples were found to contain clusters of O, C, N, and Ag, with Au concentrations significantly lower than that of the related elements. This finding can be attributed to primary geochemical dispersion, which evolved from the crystallization of magma and hydrothermal liquids as well as the migration of metasomatic elements and the rapid rate of chemical weathering of lateralization in secondary processes. The results indicate that Si and Ag are strongly concomitant with Au because of their eutectic characteristics, while N, C, and O follow alongside because of their affinity to Si. These non-noble elements thus act as pathfinders for Au ores in the exploration area. This paper further discusses relationships between gold and sediments of auriferous lodes as key to determining indicator minerals of gold in mining sites.

Land appropriation, customary tenure and rural livelihoods: gold mining in Ghana

Recent decades have witnessed unprecedented agrarian transformations and mining sector-led development projects in the countryside of the Global South. This study explores the impact of land appropriation for gold mining on customary land tenure systems and rural livelihoods in Ghana. Data were gathered through face-to-face semi-structured and structured interviews with 120 affected farmers, key informant interviews (seven participants), and three focus group discussions (28 participants). The findings show a growing tendency of customary authorities being coopted into the wider assemblages of economic and political actors who are benefiting from the land appropriation by the state and mining companies. As a result, customary authorities have become facilitators and the manu longa of the state. The study demonstrates how gold mining companies have exploited centuries-old traditional land allocation and governance practices to suppress reactions from below and how this has led to increased social differentiation and social tension in northern Ghana. In conclusion, land expropriation for gold mining has resulted in a transformation in the Ghanaian customary land tenure system, producing a marked shift from agrarian to non-agrarian livelihoods, increasing household food insecurity and societal tension, and creating a new class of (near-)landless farmers in the rural communities.

Assessing the effect of working conditions on routine medical checkup among artisanal goldminers in Ghana

The socio-economic impacts of unforeseen health challenges among mine workers cannot be overemphasized. Due to the nature of artisanal mining in Ghana, workers are responsible for their own health care. This, however, necessitates the need for insight into the dynamics of self-care among artisanal miners. A cross-sectional survey of 500 artisanal gold miners was conducted to explore the relationship between working conditions of artisanal miners and voluntarily going for routine medical checkup, even in the absence of the right support systems, using a nested binary logistic regression. All the working condition variables were robust in predicting routine medical checkup in all three models. In this case, goldminers who reported good health, safety and environmental conditions were more likely to go for routine medical checkup as compared to their co-workers who reported poor health, safety and environmental conditions. Contrariwise, miners who reported good economic conditions were less likely to go for routine medical checkup as compared to their counterparts who reported poor economic conditions. Also, routine medical checkup was less likely among artisanal miners who did not protect themselves at work and had experienced work related health challenges. For the compositional factors, miners who had senior high school education were more likely to go for routine medical checkup as compared to those with no formal education. Likewise, older miners were more probable to go for routine medical checkup as compared to their younger counterparts. At the contextual level, miners who worked on shift regime and miners who worked in non-production departments were more likely to go for routine medical checkup. The outcome of this study provides insight into the dynamics of self-care amongst artisanal miners and how best to possibly improve it in an attempt to maintain a healthy workforce and its cascading effects. To increase consciousness of self-health care in artisanal mining, there is the need for a national dialogue on how to improve the working conditions of artisanal miners in Ghana.

Human insecurities in gold mining: A systematic review of evidence from Ghana

Adverse mining effects, notably the uncontrolled spread and consequences of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), are growing concerns in sub-Saharan Africa. A securitization discourse is often used to justify a military-style approach toward illegal mining but fails to acknowledge the multiple dimensions of insecurities arising from mining. A human security approach allows taking a more holistic perspective but has hardly been applied to the mining sector. We address this gap by unraveling the insecurities arising from gold mining in Ghana based on a systematic literature review of empirical studies on mining impacts across multiple disciplines. Results reveal that the reviewed literature predominantly focuses on environmental and health insecurities, less on economic, food, and community insecurities, and hardly on personal and political insecurities. Recommended governance responses increasingly call for multidimensional and integrated approaches, considering that gold mining – particularly ASM – is situated in multifunctional landscapes and part of multidimensional livelihoods. We conclude that a human security approach enables a comprehensive analysis of a country's mining sector but still bears the risk of a ‘securitization trap’. We therefore advocate multistakeholder dialogue and integrated landscape approaches as the way forward to deal with the insecurities arising from a mining sector largely characterized by informality.

Mental health and mining: the Ghanaian gold mining story.

There is limited empirical evidence regarding mental health in workplace settings in Africa. Gold mining is a major industry in Ghana, and this study investigated mental health-related symptoms and the factors contributing to such symptoms among employees in the Ghanaian. A cross-sectional survey design study was used to collect data from employees working in the mining industry across five gold mines in Ghana. All mining employees were invited to participate in the survey. Sociodemographic and work characteristic data (including job content) was collected alongside measures of recent mental health-related symptoms (Kessler-10). Questionnaires were administered in English. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Of 1165 participants (response rate: 78%), 87% were male and 13% were female. The majority of the participants were in the 25-34 age category. Psychological distress was categorized as low (62.6%), moderate (24.3%), high (10.0%) and very high (3.2%). Shift type (working 12h or more), physical working conditions and financial factors were significantly associated with psychological distress. Job resources and job demands was not significantly associated with levels of psychological distress. This is the first study to explore mental health in the Ghanaian gold mining industry. The findings identify workplace factors associated with psychological distress in the mining industry in Ghana and support the importance of promoting mental health as part of workplace health and safety strategy to improve mental health across the mining population.

The hazardous nature of small scale underground mining in Ghana

Small scale mining continues to contribute significantly to the growth of Ghana's economy. However, the sector poses serious dangers to human health and the environment. Ground failures resulting from poorly supported stopes have led to injuries and fatalities in recent times. Dust and fumes from drilling and blasting of ore present health threats due to poor ventilation. Four prominent small scale underground mines were studied to identify the safety issues associated with small scale underground mining in Ghana. It is recognized that small scale underground mining in Ghana is inundated with unsafe acts and conditions including stope collapse, improper choice of working tools, absence of personal protective equipment and land degradation. Inadequate monitoring of the operations and lack of regulatory enforcement by the Minerals Commission of Ghana are major contributing factors to the environmental, safety and national security issues of the operations.

Analyzing the effect of Akoben programme on the environmental performance of mining in Ghana: A case study of a gold mining company

Analyzing the effect of Akoben programme on the environmental performance of mining in Ghana: A case study of a gold mining company

'We have so many challenges': Small-scale mining, Covid-19 and constant interruptions in West Africa.

Currently, the impacts of Covid‐19 are receiving significant global attention. This also applies to the extractive industries, where this global crisis is directing the gaze of policymakers, donors and academics alike. Covid‐19 is seen as having far‐reaching and disruptive consequences, especially in the case of artisanal and small‐scale mining. While the authors consider this attention important, their work on artisanal and small‐scale mining in Ghana – and West Africa more broadly – reveals that for many miners, Covid‐19 is ‘just’ another interruption to their lives and lifeworlds which are chronically affected by interruptions of different scales, magnitudes and temporalities. As anthropologists have shown, foregrounding this structural condition – which is emblematic for the lives of many people, especially in the Global South – is key to questioning, understanding and contextualizing the current moment of ‘global’ crisis and must be an element of any policy and research emerging from it.

The large footprint of small-scale artisanal gold mining in Ghana

Gold mining has played a significant role in Ghana's economy for centuries. Regulation of this industry has varied over time and while industrial mining is prevalent in the country, the expansion of artisanal mining, or Galamsey has escalated in recent years. Many of these artisanal mines are not only harmful to human health due to the use of Mercury (Hg) in the amalgamation process, but also leave a significant footprint on terrestrial ecosystems, degrading and destroying forested ecosystems in the region. In this study, the Landsat image archive available through Google Earth Engine was used to quantify the total footprint of vegetation loss due to artisanal gold mines in Ghana from 2005 to 2019 and understand how conversion of forested regions to mining has changed over a decadal period from 2007 to 2017. A combination of machine learning and change detection algorithms were used to calculate different land cover conversions and the timing of conversion annually. Within the study area of southwestern Ghana, our results indicate that approximately 47,000 ha (⨦2218 ha) of vegetation were converted to mining at an average rate of ~2600 ha yr−1. The results indicate that a high percentage (~50%) of this mining occurred between 2014 and 2017. Around 700 ha of this mining occurred within protected areas as mapped by the World Database of Protected Areas. In addition to deforestation, increased artisanal mining activity in recent years has the potential to affect human health, access to drinking water resources and food security. This work expands upon limited research into the spatial footprint of Galamsey in Ghana, complements mapping efforts by local geographers, and will support efforts by the government of Ghana to monitor deforestation caused by artisanal mining.

Cost competitive analysis of large-scale gold mines in Ghana from 2007 to 2016

The gold mining industry is a major contributor to the economy of Ghana. However, this contribution has been declining over the past decade. This decline coupled with the importance of the industry to the country’s economy necessitated the need to analyse the performance of companies within the industry. Therefore, a cost performance analysis of Ghana’s major gold mines was done in this paper for the period 2007 to 2016 using industry cost curves. A correlation coefficient analysis was also done to identify the key cost drivers in Ghana. This paper further analysed the cost competitiveness of Ghana’s gold mining industry against other gold producing countries in the world. From the analysis, it was found that Newmont’s Ahafo and Akyem mines were consistent low unit cost producers. Both mines benefited from economies of scale and high metallurgical recovery rates. On the other hand, AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi and Golden Star’s Bogoso mines were found to be consistent high unit cost producers due to low-productive and labour-intensive underground mining methods used and very low metallurgical recovery rates, respectively. Finally, the study revealed that Ghana’s gold mining industry was not cost competitive when compared to other gold-producing countries over the analysis period.

How much are benefit-sharing agreements worth to communities affected by mining?

Benefit-sharing agreements (BSAs) determine how resource extraction companies and stakeholder communities share the economic value created by extractive activities. Besides direct financial compensation, BSAs can include preferential access to contracting opportunities for local firms and promises of direct employment for local individuals. Quantifying potential BSA benefits can have practical value for communities entering into BSA negotiations and or monitoring the implementation of agreements. This paper seeks to demonstrate that BSAs can be quantitatively modeled by estimating the expected size of net benefits from two BSAs: the Ahafo gold mine in Ghana, and the Mary River iron ore mine in Nunavut, Canada. We calculate net benefits at the time of the BSA's negotiation by estimating the gains in financial transfers, jobs, and contracting opportunities that accrue to members of the affected communities, relative to a counterfactual of the mining project occurring in the absence of the BSA, and report the relative contribution from each category of benefits. Adding up the net benefits across the three categories, we find that in the Ahafo case the impacted community's discounted benefits from the BSA amount to 1.08% of the estimated life-of-mine revenue and 2.10% in the Mary River case, with the primary contributions coming from jobs and financial transfers respectively.

Benefit sharing, power, and the performance of multi-stakeholder institutions at Ghana's Ahafo mine

This article examines the role of power, influence, and participation in driving the formation and operation of project-level multi-stakeholder institutions (MSIs), matching political economy theory with case study evidence from the Ahafo gold mine in Ghana. In Ahafo, MSIs were created through benefit-sharing agreements between the mining company and local communities in order to set and manage the distribution of benefits from the mining rents. Drawing on field interviews and other data, we find that the MSIs reflected existing power structures and struggled to enable broad-based participation in decision-making concerning benefit sharing and beyond. Despite having new institutions, and partly because of them, the ability of many stakeholders to influence the distribution of rents from the mine did not increase. The findings point to the role that complex political dynamics play in shaping the formation and implementation of project-level MSIs.

Governance challenges of small-scale gold mining in Ghana: Insights from a process net-map study

The artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) sector – commonly described as low-tech, labor-intensive mineral extraction and processing, in developing countries, is increasingly associated with the use of heavy earth moving machines and hazardous chemicals for ore extraction, which can have negative implications on agricultural land use and the environment. Moreover, land reclamation, or the lack thereof, associated with ASM is a rising concern. Despite the potentially far-reaching effects of informal ASM operations on the environment and human health, the legal framework for ASM, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, is not well implemented. Focusing on Ghana as a study case, this paper explores the factors that hinder the implementation of its legal framework for mining. A combination of qualitative explorative methods was applied, including an innovative tool called “Process Net-Map”, a visual participatory mapping technique. The results help to explain the governance challenges of the ASM sector, enabling identification of policy reform options to address them. The findings exposed outdated legislature, which fails to capture the ever-growing complexities of the subsector’s operations, as a major bottleneck. Hurdles associated with formal licensing bureaucracies and fees, land tenure, compliance monitoring, and ineffective collaboration of relevant stakeholders with and at the local level were identified as hindering the implementation of the existing legal framework. These bottlenecks must be addressed. Moreover, we recommend the adoption of collaborative governance systems, like co-management, which has been successfully implemented in other disciplines, in the ASM sector to ensure sustainability.

Global Sourcing and Its Associated Challenges in the Mining Industry in Ghana

This research investigated the extent, benefits and challenges of Global Sourcing in the Ghana Mining industry. The study looked at the level of outsourcing outside the country, the products that are sourced globally, factors that contribute to the decision to source globally, challenges of global sourcing and above all the benefits that these companies derive from sourcing globally. Three mining companies each representing the large, medium and small-scale mining companies in Ghana were used as case studies. A well-structured questionnaire was sent to these companies to gather primary data. Secondary data from various offices within the supply chain departments of these companies were also used to supplement data obtained from the survey. Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, both the primary and secondary data were analyzed. The analysis included the use of basic descriptive statistics and graphical representations using bar charts, histograms, scatter plots, etc. Even though the literature cites cost as the key factor for Global sourcing, the study showed that for the Ghana mining Industry, product quality is the primary factor. From the study, Quality recorded 45%, Competitive advantage 20%, and combined cost and global outlook recording 16.7% when respondents were asked about the most important factor influencing global sourcing in their respective companies. Differences in the legal frameworks and business environments of foreign sources possess many challenges to the mining companies contrary to popularly observed challenges with delivery and lead time. There are no clearly defined models or strategies for doing global sourcing in the companies as various authors have noted however contrary to the traditional belief that M&M companies conduct Low Cost Country Sourcing (LCCS), the companies under study preferred Best Cost Country Sourcing (BCCS) which recorded 55.2% against 44.8% for both LCCS and BCCS.

Human Factor Analysis Framework for Ghana’s Mining Industry

In an attempt to incorporate human factors into technical failures as accident causal factors, researchers have promoted the concept of human factor analysis. Human factor analysis models seek to identify latent conditions within the system that influence the operator’s action to trigger an accident. For an effective application of human factor analysis models, a domain-specific model is recommended. Most existing models are developed with category/subcategory peculiar to a particular domain. This presents challenges and hinders effective application outside the domain developed for. This paper sought to propose a human factor analysis framework for Ghana’s mining industry. A comparative study was carried out between three dominated accident causation models and investigation methods in literature; AcciMap, HFACS, and STAMP. The comparative assessment showed that HFACS is suitable for incident data analysis based on the following reason; ease of learning and use, suitability for multiple incident analysis and statistical quantification of trends and patterns, and high inter and intra-coder reliability. A thorough study was done on HFACS and its derivative. Based on recommendations and research findings on HFACS from literature, Human Factor Analysis, and Classification System – Ghana Mining Industry (HFACS-GMI) was proposed. The HFACS-GMI has 4 tiers, namely; External influence/factor, Organisational factor, Local Workplace/Individual Condition and, Unsafe Act. A partial list of causal factors under each tier was generated to serve as a guide during incident coding and investigation. The HFACS-GMI consists of 18 subcategories and these have been discussed. The HFACS-GMI is specific to the Ghanaian Mines and could potentially help in identifying causal and contributing factors of an accident during an incident investigation and data analysis.
 
 Keywords: Human Factor Analysis, Causal Factor, Causation Model, Mining Industry

A Self-adaptive differential evolutionary extreme learning machine (SaDE-ELM): a novel approach to blast-induced ground vibration prediction

Blast-induced ground vibration is still an adverse impact of blasting in civil and mining engineering projects that need much consideration and attention. This study proposes the use of Self-Adaptive Differential Evolutionary Extreme Learning Machine (SaDE-ELM) for the prediction of ground vibration due to blasting using 210 blasting data points from an open pit mine in Ghana. To ascertain the predictive performance of the proposed SaDE-ELM approach, several artificial intelligence and empirical approaches were developed for comparative purposes. The performances of various developed models were assessed using model performance indicators of mean squared error (MSE), Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency Index (NSEI) and correlation coefficient (R). Furthermore, the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) was applied to select the best performing approach. The obtained prediction results based on the performance indicators showed that the SaDE-ELM outperformed all the competing models as it had the lowest MSE value of 0.01942, respectively. The SaDE-ELM also achieved the highest R and NSEI values of 0.8711 and 0.7537, respectively. The other artificial intelligent approaches had MSE, R and NSEI in the ranges of (0.02166–0.03006), (0.8012–0.8537) and (0.6188–0.7254), respectively. The empirical approaches performed poorly relative to the artificial intelligence approaches by having had MSE, R and NSEI in the ranges of (0.03419–0.06587), (0.7466–0.7833) and (0.1649–0.5665), respectively. The prediction superiority of SaDE-ELM was confirmed when it is achieved the lowest BIC value of − 293.40. Therefore, the proposed SaDE-ELM has demonstrated great potential to be used for on-site prediction, control and management of blast-induced ground vibration to prevent unwanted effects on the environment.

Perception of Small-Scale Miners on Interventions to Eradicate Illegal Small-Scale Mining in Ghana

The proliferation of illegal mining in Ghana, coupled with its environmental impacts, especially on water bodies has compelled the government to ban all artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activities in the country. The ban is intended to promote environmental sustainability while the government takes steps to provide sustainable health, and environmental-friendly ASM in Ghana. This paper assesses the perception of registered miners on the current approach by the Ghanaian government to stop illegal mining. Analyses of data from focus group discussions and key informant interviews revealed that the miners felt “left out” of the entire process. They maintained that they were not directly involved in the process to ban illegal mining in Ghana. To them, the proliferation of illegal mining in Ghana is the result of non-performing government institutions, corruption, and cumbersome licensing procedures. The article calls for improvement in the collaboration between the government and miners through a simplified participatory framework for the management of ASM in Ghana.