Small-scale Gold Mining In Ghana Research Articles

Rethinking small-scale gold mining in Ghana: A holy grail for environmental stewardship and sustainability

Ghana is fast losing its ecological health to illegal gold mining (IGM), since the last two decades. Aside the dearth and paucity of studies on IGM, prior literature on IGM have largely concentrated on unidimensional methods at the neglect of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Against this backdrop, the present study aims to address the yawning gap in literature using the novel MCDM hybrid LDA-PSI-TOPSIS. Accordingly, a thorough search was done in notable databases including ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science, using linguistic terms ((such as “barriers” OR “drivers” OR “challenges” OR “causes” OR “impediment” OR” “enablers” OR “strategies”) AND (“illegal mining” OR “illegal small-scale gold mining”)), to obtain the barriers to eradicate IGM, and the corresponding strategies to overcome these barriers. Overall, 5 main barriers, 26 sub-barriers, and eights strategies were identified. Subsequently, the barriers and the strategies were ranked by 20 experts from academia and industry based on the framework of the study. The study's findings reveal a hierarchical arrangement of the main barriers to IGM eradication, with the following order: socioeconomic barriers (44%), governance barriers (20%), weak institutional and cultural barriers (17%), regulatory barriers (15%), and equipment/foreign miners barriers (4%). Furthermore, the eight strategies for IGM eradication were systematically ranked as follows: alternative livelihood and improved formalization; moral economy, anti-corruption campaign, and cultural reprogramming; community engagement; improved governance structures and public service; autonomy for judicial and auxiliary services; monitoring and surveillance; economic sanctions (naming-and-shaming); and international cooperation. From a managerial perspective, the study proposes an innovative blend of top-down and bottom-up strategies to catalyze success in the fight against illegal mining, taking into account the financial resources of the country.

Chinese Technology and the Transformation of the Rural Economy in Ghana: Evidence From Galamsey in the Ashanti and Savannah Regions

Abstract The recent Chinese involvement in small-scale gold mining in Ghana has received wide publicity and scholarly attention. While the literature has focused on environmental sustainability, political accountability, and institutional reforms, it is yet to examine local adoption of Chinese technology and its impact on Ghana’s rural economy. We argue that it is in the interstices between the formal economy and entrepreneurship within the informal economy that opportunities for Chinese interventions emerge. Using evidence from Manso Akropong in the Ashanti region and Bole in the Savannah region, this article shows that, while Chinese technology’s impact is transformative, the outcomes are divergent in different regions. In Manso Akropong, the intensification of mining backed by Ghanaian–Chinese collaborations has led to the environmental destruction, creating competition between gold mining and cocoa farming that had underpinned Ghana’s rural prosperity. In Bole, where less aggressive Chinese technology such as Changfa and rubber mats are incorporated without direct Chinese participation, a more sustainable pattern of growth has emerged. This comparative study suggests that besides the large-scale projects and state-led training programmes, grassroots actors like informal artisanal miners are at the forefront of technology transfer in the China–Africa encounter.

Available Legal Regime and The Use of Mercury for Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of mercury (Hg) and available laws to regulate its use in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) Community in Ghana. Research shows that the use of Hg in the ASGM causes damage to the cognitive and neurological function of the miners, as well as to the physical and mental disabilities to children in the ASGM communities. Furthermore, number of publications also shows that the use of Hg causes significant damage to water bodies and the environment in most mining communities. Additionally, in an attempt to protect the environment from these high levels of Hg in these mining sites and beyond, has led to some conflict and military intervention. Even though, Ghana has adequate laws to regulate Hg use by reducing and where feasible eliminate the use of Hg for small-scale mining. However, due to some legal limitations to the current situation there is the need to amend some of these laws to help address these challenges. In addition, certain policies, technological and educational initiatives taken to address the use of Hg in our environment, have proven largely ineffective. The results of this study shows that the implementation of mining regulation without careful analysis of mine community dynamics, the organization of activities, operators’ needs and local geological conditions has resulted in some challenges. However, significant improvements can only be achieved in this area if the state and the organs of government tackle the illegal mining “galamsey” menace; introducing cost-effective techniques for the reduction of the use of Hg in mining; effective government sponsored participatory training exercises as mechanisms for communicating information about appropriate technologies and the environment; and strengthening compliance and enforcement of existing laws. In conclusion there is the urgent need to properly regulate the use of Hg in mining communities in Ghana.

A Geoeconomic Planning and Evaluation Model for Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana

Following calls for comprehensive National Action Plans (NAPs) that outline training programmes for the handling of mercury and strategies for reducing emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) under the Minamata Convention, other follow-up calls intensified the need for the formalisation or regulation of ASGM in the sector. Aside from the precarious emission of mercury and hazards to the environment, the ASGM sector resorts to unsafe methods for exploiting minerals due to inadequate funding. It is not surprising that anti-mining groups constantly advocate against mining in general as a result of the harm unprofessional ASGM operators expose man and the environment to. In this light, several studies have been conducted to propose safe techniques of exploiting minerals by ASGM operators and the need for governments to regulate the sector through legal instruments. Unfortunately, the problems of ASGM seem to linger on. Notwithstanding, much attention has not been given to the formulation of procedures for accurate resource estimation and subsequent feasibility studies of ASGM, which could probably be a major cause of ASGM challenges. This study proposes Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) technique for estimating the concentration of alluvium gold. The IDW method was successfully applied to the alluvial deposit of the Mpeasem Gold Project, and practical results were obtained for economic evaluations. The total volume of alluvial gold deposits was 3.4 Mm3 at an average grade of 0.46 g/m3. Economic evaluation yielded a net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) of USD 2.8 M and 48%, respectively. The results indicate that reasonable data from outcrop sampling, pitting and trenching, and detailed cost estimates can present a more compelling case for funding. This way, the funding inadequacies which contribute to the use of shortcuts and unsafe tools, materials, and methods can be minimised.

Brick by brick, block by block: Building a sustainable formalization strategy for small-scale gold mining in Ghana

This paper contributes to the debate on formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on fresh insights from Ghana. In the early-1990 s, with support from GTZ, the German technical arm, Ghana implemented its Small-Scale Mining Project (SSMP), an institutional framework designed specifically to facilitate legalization of, and administer assistance to, ASM. Whilst at the time of its launch, the SSMP was lauded in donor circles as a best practice governance structure for formalizing ASM in sub-Saharan Africa, its existence was short-lived because of poor planning, uncoordinated execution, and a general lack of commitment on the part of government and donors to fulfilling its objectives. The institutional, policy and regulatory framework that has emerged in its place has stifled formalization of the sector by introducing a number of barriers that have prevented operators from legalizing their activities and accessing crucial support services. Ghana’s small-scale miners have long called for the implementation of a more operator-friendly licensing apparatus and support structure, although it is becoming increasingly evident that such change is unlikely to happen without an unprecedented intervention. This, however, may be supplied in the form of the Community Mining Scheme (CMS), launched by Ghana’s senior government officials in 2019 in a bid to ringfence specific areas for licensed ASM. Wide adoption of the CMS promises to transform the governance of ASM in Ghana into a more operator-friendly and efficient process by engaging local government units hitherto marginalized in the sector’s formalization process; (re)establishing a decentralized platform donors desperately covet to implement projects with greater precision; and revitalizing dormant policy interventions – foremost, the list of Designated Areas for Small Scale Gold & Diamond Mining in Ghana, initiated by the government in May 2009 – that are keys to facilitating a robust grassroots institutional presence for licensing and a galvanized support structure for operators.

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.

Tensions and controversies regarding child labor in small-scale gold mining in Ghana

The recent resurgence in small-scale mining in Ghana has coincided with falling enrolments in schools, leading to public concerns about the participation of children and young people in mining work. The engagement of children and young people in gold mining is also perceived to diminish efforts to improve education, inviting abolitionist actions from the government. This has created tension between government and its functionaries on one hand and young workers and their families on the other. Drawing on qualitative research, this article explores controversies around young people’s involvement in small-scale mining and governments’ efforts to curtail it in Amansie West District, Ghana. We discuss the tensions between securing individual/household livelihoods and societal interest in reducing child labor. The study findings underscore not only the importance of work in the lives of young workers and their households but also its positive implications for educational pursuits as well as for future livelihood prospects. Whereas the abolitionist framework emphasizes children’s right to education, it fails to acknowledge that the income generated through work makes schooling possible for most children. We conclude that policies rooted in global ideologies of work-free childhoods are at odds with prevailing sociocultural and economic realities.

Mutualism, commensalism or parasitism? Perspectives on tailings trade between large-scale and artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Ghana

Due to poor technology and lack of proper skills in mineral processing techniques, a greater percentage (about 70%) of gold is lost to the tailings stream in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). These tailings, in the last decade, have become a major source of revenue for some large-scale mining (LSM) companies in Ghana because they have advanced technologies to optimize recovery. This paper examines the tailings trade between ASGM and LSM companies in Ghana and determines their associated relationships. It also informs policy decisions regarding gold mining in Ghana. Field visits were made to licensed ASGM sites in the Tarkwa Mining District where the trade is mostly practiced to obtain first-hand information and conduct interviews with diggers. Results indicate that both ASGM operators and LSM companies derive revenue from the tailings trade, exhibiting a relationship that could be described as mutualistic. Based on the tailings price determination, the symbiotic relationship is described as parasitic because the tailings pricing process is largely controlled by the LSM companies to the detriment of the ASGM operators. As a result of the environmental dangers posed by the tailings trade, the interdependency could equally be described as parasitic since both the ASGM operators and the LSM companies benefit to the detriment of the natural ecosystem. It was also observed that while some stakeholders attempt to criminalize the tailings trade, there is presently no law or regulation that prohibits such trade in the Ghanaian mining industry.

Site specific: Heterogeneity of small-scale gold mining in Ghana

The past decade of booming gold prices profoundly expanded small-scale mining (SSM) around the globe, with an estimated 25 million miners now participating in this industry. Despite increasing acknowledgement of the diverse actors and technologies involved in SSM operations, critical variability in SSM mining populations remains subsumed within an essential category of poverty-driven, labor-intensive activities undertaken by uneducated, iterant populations in rural areas of developing nations. Likewise, the technologies and environmental practices employed by miners at finer scales in SSM assemblages warrant further characterization. This paper therefore examines the socio-techno dimensions of SSM in Ghana, drawing upon fieldwork conducted in 2012–2013 in central Ghana. A one-day catalogue of SSM operations within a 1-km radius of a community highlights the varying organization of mining teams and deployment of diverse technologies in a particular socio-ecological context. This work demonstrates the heterogeneity of small-scale mining practices, reflecting the need for greater attention to the complex organizational and technological dimensions of SSM in evaluating the nature and implications of this industry.

An Integrated Assessment Approach to Address Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is growing in many regions of the world including Ghana. The problems in these communities are complex and multi-faceted. To help increase understanding of such problems, and to enable consensus-building and effective translation of scientific findings to stakeholders, help inform policies, and ultimately improve decision making, we utilized an Integrated Assessment approach to study artisanal and small-scale gold mining activities in Ghana. Though Integrated Assessments have been used in the fields of environmental science and sustainable development, their use in addressing specific matter in public health, and in particular, environmental and occupational health is quite limited despite their many benefits. The aim of the current paper was to describe specific activities undertaken and how they were organized, and the outputs and outcomes of our activity. In brief, three disciplinary workgroups (Natural Sciences, Human Health, Social Sciences and Economics) were formed, with 26 researchers from a range of Ghanaian institutions plus international experts. The workgroups conducted activities in order to address the following question: What are the causes, consequences and correctives of small-scale gold mining in Ghana? More specifically: What alternatives are available in resource-limited settings in Ghana that allow for gold-mining to occur in a manner that maintains ecological health and human health without hindering near- and long-term economic prosperity? Several response options were identified and evaluated, and are currently being disseminated to various stakeholders within Ghana and internationally.

Integrated Assessment of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana-Part 2: Natural Sciences Review.

This paper is one of three synthesis documents produced via an integrated assessment (IA) that aims to increase understanding of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Ghana. Given the complexities surrounding ASGM, an integrated assessment (IA) framework was utilized to analyze socio-economic, health, and environmental data, and co-develop evidence-based responses with stakeholders. This paper focuses on the causes, status, trends, and consequences of ecological issues related to ASGM activity in Ghana. It reviews dozens of studies and thousands of samples to document evidence of heavy metals contamination in ecological media across Ghana. Soil and water mercury concentrations were generally lower than guideline values, but sediment mercury concentrations surpassed guideline values in 64% of samples. Arsenic, cadmium, and lead exceeded guideline values in 67%, 17%, and 24% of water samples, respectively. Other water quality parameters near ASGM sites show impairment, with some samples exceeding guidelines for acidity, turbidity, and nitrates. Additional ASGM-related stressors on environmental quality and ecosystem services include deforestation, land degradation, biodiversity loss, legacy contamination, and potential linkages to climate change. Though more research is needed to further elucidate the long-term impacts of ASGM on the environment, the plausible consequences of ecological damages should guide policies and actions to address the unique challenges posed by ASGM.

Integrated assessment of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Ghana--part 1: human health review.

This report is one of three synthesis documents produced via an integrated assessment (IA) that aims to increase understanding of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Ghana. Given the complexities surrounding ASGM, an IA framework was utilized to analyze economic, social, health, and environmental data, and co-develop evidence-based responses with pertinent stakeholders. The current analysis focuses on the health of ASGM miners and community members, and synthesizes extant data from the literature as well as co-authors’ recent findings regarding the causes, status, trends, and consequences of ASGM in Ghana. The results provide evidence from across multiple Ghanaian ASGM sites that document relatively high exposures to mercury and other heavy metals, occupational injuries and noise exposure. The work also reviews limited data on psychosocial health, nutrition, cardiovascular and respiratory health, sexual health, and water and sanitation. Taken together, the findings provide a thorough overview of human health issues in Ghanaian ASGM communities. Though more research is needed to further elucidate the relationships between ASGM and health outcomes, the existing research on plausible health consequences of ASGM should guide policies and actions to better address the unique challenges of ASGM in Ghana and potentially elsewhere.

A viewpoint on small-scale gold mining in Ghana: a regulatory perspective on current practices, mercury use and the UNIDO and EU projects

This paper opens the special issue by providing an overview of small-scale gold mining in Ghana. Furthermore, it highlights the sector's mercury pollution problem, and describes two important interventions - projects funded by UN and EU - recently made to address the problem. Despite having considerable shortcomings, these projects have laid important groundwork for a comprehensive mercury pollution abatement strategy in Ghana. Various aspects of these projects are examined further in the special issue.

Sustainable small-scale gold mining in Ghana: setting and strategies for sustainability

Abstract In Ghana, small-scale/artisanal gold mining has been on-going for more than a century. Artisanal mining has been the support for the rural people who more often than not are forced to sacrifice their farmlands and means of livelihood for large-scale mining operations. In order to reduce the activity of small scale/artisanal during the colonial era, laws were passed to bar indigenous operators from dealing in gold ore, amalgam, bullion, retorted gold, slags, concentrates and mercury. In recent years, however, under the auspices of the German non-governmental agency, Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and the World Bank, the Ghana government has undertaken a number of initiatives to formalise and regulate small-scale mining operations. Unfortunately, small-scale mining activities are characterised by lack of capital and minimum use of appropriate technology in the mining and treatment of the minerals into finished products. In addition, the industry is associated with land degradation and water pollution. This paper explores possible strategies that aim to make small-scale gold mining in Ghana more sustainable (i.e. more efficient, less destructive to the environment and more meaningful to the operators and the country as a whole). The roles of stakeholders in the small-scale mining industry in Ghana are also identified. It concludes that, for sustainable small-scale mining, a pragmatic synergistic approach must be adopted by all stakeholders in the organisation, regularisation, training and support of small-scale mining operations in Ghana. Mineable lands need to be delineated, illegal operators should be organised and brought under a responsible umbrella, small-scale mining operators should be supported with funds, technology and education, and alternative livelihood programmes must be pursued in mining communities.

Improving the environmental management of small-scale gold mining in Ghana: a case study of Dumasi

In April 2000, a UNIDO study was carried out in Dumasi, Ghana, the purpose of which was to determine the environmental impacts of mercury prior to the introduction of (mercury) retorts. The sampling program was intended to identify mercury transfers to rivers, soil systems and groundwater. Results show a diffuse contamination of all environmental media in the village. Although there is no evidence of groundwater contamination, sediments are significantly contaminated, and most fish fillets have mercury contents exceeding the United States Food and Drug Agency (US-FDA) action level, and are therefore unfit for human consumption. Mercury losses mainly occur during amalgamation, and have resulted in widespread pollution of soils and sediments throughout the village. Transparent retorts have been introduced and environmental training is ongoing but these efforts have only partially addressed the mercury problem in Dumasi.