By Konrad Kodjo DJAISI
A new report by Global Initiative – based on three years of fieldwork, satellite analysis and interviews – provides an evidence-based mapping of illicit mining that shows how informal operations are reshaping local economies, environments and power structures.
The report demonstrates how criminal actors, including transnational networks, are benefitting from weak governance and regulatory gaps in the ASGM sector and gold trade.
Using satellite imagery and predictive modelling, researchers tracked the rapid expansion of mining activity and predicted the future movement of alluvial ASGM activities.
In places like the Western Region, satellite imagery shows dramatic increases in mining activity; with many operations occurring outside officially licenced zones. In addition to mapping mining sites, the report highlights how foreign nationals – particularly from China and Burkina Faso – have introduced new technologies and machinery that are increasing gold output while contributing to environmental harm.
It also explores the influence of traditional chiefs and political elites, who often benefit from or enable illicit mining operations.
The report also documents how illicit financial flows and gold supply chains are increasingly transnational. Criminal groups are allegedly engaging in gold smuggling and money laundering through casinos and other businesses.
The Ghanaian government has introduced measures to formalise the ASGM sector and crack down on illegal operations…. but implementation remains inconsistent.
Ghana is one of the world’s leading gold producers, with artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) playing a crucial role in the country’s economy and livelihoods of its people. Many miners turn to gold extraction due to limited alternative livelihoods and the relatively high incomes it offers compared to agriculture or informal work.
The environmental impacts are stark. Unregulated use of mercury in gold processing is harming water systems, while mining expansion is causing deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
Key findings show the injection of investment and technology – often by foreign nationals, particularly Chinese and Burkinabé – is significantly shaping unlicenced mining operations, gold supply chains and financial flows.
Also, the growing use of cyanide – introduced by foreign nationals from neighbouring West African countries – is reshaping processing activities and regional financial and gold flows.
There is a worrying rise in the sexual exploitation of women in mining communities, with patterns consistent with trafficking. Exposing secretive networks of actors, activities and supply chains is necessary to address challenges posed by illicit actors and markets that adapt rapidly to regulatory and market changes.
Global Initiative is an independent civil-society organisation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with a globally dispersed secretariat and a high-level advisory board. Its network members include prominent law enforcement, governance and development practitioners dedicated to seeking new and innovative strategies and responses to organised crime.
The future of Ghana’s gold sector is closely linked to evolving power dynamics and competition for control and profits from the sector.
