Golden Migrants: The Rise and Impact of Illegal Chinese Small‐Scale Mining in Ghana

Abstract

This article investigates factors that attract Chinese migrants into illegal small‐scale mining in Ghana, their role in the supply chain, and the impact of their involvement. This is accomplished via mixed qualitative techniques involving interviews with illegal small‐scale Chinese and Ghanaian miners, and relevant Ghanaian stakeholders. Although the majority of Chinese interests in African mining is state sponsored, the Ghana case demonstrates private Chinese agency that is mostly attracted to illegal small‐scale mining in Ghana due to push factors in the homeland and pull factors associated with Ghanaian state weakness. The Chinese dominate the supply chain of illegal small‐scale mining with their financial, technical, managerial acumen, the sale and transfer of gold proceeds, and political patronage. This dominance accounts for the massive negative social, economic, environmental, and political impact of illegal small‐scale mining in the country. Amid state weakness, Ghanaian civil society, exercising agency, remains a potent force against the phenomenon. Related Articles Abdulai, Abdul‐Gafaru, Justice Nyigmah Bawole, and Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi. 2018. “Rethinking Persistent Poverty in Northern Ghana: The Primacy of Policy and Politics over Geography.” Politics & Policy 46 (2): 233‐262. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12250 Davis, Charles. 2008. “Preemptive Federalism or Regulatory Dismantlement? The Bush Administration's Implementation of the Federal Coal Mining Reclamation Program.” Politics & Policy 36 (3): 400‐418. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00114.x Kim, Eun Kyung. 2019. “Issue Ownership and Strategic Policy Choice in Multiparty Africa.” Politics & Policy 47 (5): 956‐983. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12327 Related Media The Guardian. 2013. “The Price of Gold: Chinese Mining in Ghana Documentary: Guardian Investigations.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohrrE1rjzLo Voice of Africa. 2015. “Illegal Mining in Ghana.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=822czuf-Xxk Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. 2017. “Ghana: Media Coalition Launches Campaign against Illegal Mining.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOwF_qYpwXI

Adsorption Isotherm, Kinetic and Thermodynamic Modelling of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> ATCC13952 Mediated Adsorption of Arsenic in Groundwaters of Selected Gold Mining Communities in the Wassa West Municipality of the Western Region of Ghana

“…The situation is worrying as several surface water resources have become coloured and silted, thus making them unusable [3]. Hence, mining communities are in constant need of potable water and rely on groundwater resources for their water needs [4]. However, danger looms as several studies conducted on groundwater quality in gold mining communities in Ghana have reported substantial levels of arsenic often exceeding the 10 µg/L permitted by the WHO [5] [6].…”

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

“…Studies show that artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activities are often unregulated and have led to the destruction of the environment in diverse ways (Baah-Ennumh, 2010;Hilson, 2017;Hilson & Maconachie, 2020;Veiga & Morais, 2014). The problems relating to ASM such as the excessive use of dangerous chemicals, water pollution, poor health and safety, and child labor have gained some form of attention in global discourse over the past few years (Antwi-Boateng & Akudugu, 2020;Buss et al, 2019). Unfortunately, these issues are reported not to systemically address the transition of ASM from a negative to a positive activity to minimize the adverse environmental impacts and create sustainable livelihoods (Hilson, 2006;Hruschka & Echavarria, 2011;Tschakert, 2009).…”

Socio-demographic factors affecting artisanal and small-scale mining (galamsey) operations in Ghana

“…And if not for the growing illegality and massive environmental destructions associated with the operations, ASM is the exclusive right of the natives ( Akabzaa and Darimani, 2001 ; Ofosu-Mensah, 2010 ). Additionally, the position of migrants in the galamsey sector has been highlighted ( Nyame et al., 2009 ; Hilson et al., 2014 ; Antwi-Boateng and Akudugu, 2020 ), but fortunately for the Upper West Region, the devastating environmental effect of the illegal Chinese migrants including worsening social consequences in local mining communities as reported by a large body of the literature ( Hilson et al., 2014 ; Hilson, 2017 ; Botchwey and Crawford, 2018 ; Antwi-Boateng and Akudugu, 2020 ; Hausermann et al., 2020 ) were dim in this study.…”

“…The extant literature has indicated that local communities particularly in mining areas are dominated by a youthful age group–the economically active class ( Kala, 2015 ; Hilson and Maconachie, 2020a , Hilson and Maconachie, 2020b ; Mabe et al., 2021 ). However, the major worry with regard to this youthful population in these localities is that the youth are easily attracted to illegal mining activities at the expense of agriculture ( Antwi-Boateng and Akudugu, 2020 ), with implications on food security. The gender distribution showed more males (63.7%) were represented in the survey than females ( Table 3 ).…”

“…Consequently, the local miners teamed up with the illegal Chinese miners who are technologically resourced to engage in galamsey. Thus, the use of heavy machines (excavators) by the Chinese illegal miners in the galamsey sector further increased the environmental consequences ( Antwi-Boateng and Akudugu, 2020 ; Hausermann et al., 2020 ), such as pollution of water bodies and degradation of arable lands and forest reserves ( Boadi et al., 2016 ; Hilson, 2017 ; Bansah et al., 2018 ; Owusu et al., 2019 ; Obeng et al., 2019 ; Forkuor et al., 2020 ). Because of the increasing environmental consequences, media groups (e.g.…”