Ghana’s blessing of rich natural resource endowments, making it one of the world’s largest gold producers, is not with without negative externalities. Motivated by increasing world prices of gold, Ghana is plagued by the extensive practice of illegal small scale mining, often referred to as galamsey. Galamsey not only drains the state of potential revenue but also results in disastrous environmental degradation.
Galamsey, while small scale in its individual operations, is far from small in its prevalence across Ghana. The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in a previous statement had estimated the value of galamsey occurring in Ghana to be $2.3B in 2016. The environmental costs of this type of mining are certainly evident but are much more difficult to quantify.
Galamsey is not generally associated with industrial machinery and rather uses a very labor intensive extraction method. Riverbeds, a common site for gold mining, are dredged and then chemically treated. Chemical treatments are primarily composed of the hazardous heavy metal mercury.
Mercury is used in a process called amalgamation to separate gold from other materials and minerals. Gold becomes bonded to the mercury, and the gold and mercury combination is heated, vaporizing the mercury, ultimately leaving behind the gold.
Contaminated dredge waste is then dumped back in the site, contaminating these area’s water sources, aquatic life, and decreases the fertility of nearby land. Contamination of rivers leads to contamination of the bodies of water they feed into.
Despite its disastrous environmental impacts, contaminating land, water, and air, using mercury is one of the cheapest and most effective means to separate gold.
Mercury, lead, and other heavy metals are also all naturally in the Earth’s crust and the extractive mining processes can surface and spread these metals, leading to further contamination.
Heavy metals can enter the body primarily through the consumption of contaminated water and food, but can also occur by absorption through skin and by inhalation.
These heavy metals can cause short term symptoms such as increased blood pressure, nausea, and seizures, and long term damage from chronic exposure can permanently damage the nervous, digestive, and immune system. These metals are also extremely detrimental to early neurological development.
Dangerous levels of mercury can accumulate in fish, especially large predatory fish as their contamination levels are magnified by eating small contaminated fish.
A study conducted by the World Health Organization on the effects of mercury poisoning on subsistence fishing communities across five countries found that 1.5-17 per thousand children of these communities showed cognitive impairment (mild mental retardation).
Communities along rivers may be unaware of mining activities upstream and the fact of the contamination of vital sources of water and food.
The effects of this pollution not threatens people’s health, but at times their livelihood. Soil pollution is hurting Ghana’s cocoa market, another staple in its economy. Cocoa farmers have complained that soil contamination by galamsey has ruined their crops. Others have sold their land to illegal miners, enjoying an upfront sum but ultimately giving up a long term means of income. Mining operations come and go but the pollution stays.
A chairman of a cocoa buyer’s collective, previously stated that “Galamsey is the biggest threat to cocoa production.”
Galamsey is a large concern for Ghana as it poses significant issues to the country’s environment, economy, and citizens’ health. It has received considerable attention by the government but persistent outside funding of galamsey and limited state resources in regards to prevention measures present continuous issues.
By Andrew David (Intern)
