For decades, illegal small-scale gold mining, or galamsey, has been portrayed as a survival strategy for the rural poor, driven largely by unemployment and the absence of opportunities. My research, however, shows that this is no longer the case. What exists today is not an informal activity of desperate individuals but a well-structured criminal industry sustained by financiers, foreign actors, corruption, and political infiltration.
Mining in Ghana is centuries old and has played a vital role in shaping our economy and society. By the late 1500s, Ghana produced over a third of the world’s gold, and even today the mineral continues to dominate our exports, contributing more than 90 percent of mineral revenues annually. Small-scale mining has historically provided livelihoods, but studies estimate that about 85 percent of artisanal mining in Ghana now operates illegally. These operations no longer rely on simple tools; instead, they use excavators, motorised pumps, crushers, cyanide, explosives, and other sophisticated methods, making them highly profitable businesses with international links.
During fieldwork in three mining communities, I observed characteristics that bear a striking resemblance to organised crime networks across the world. Illegal mining sites are organised with clear leadership structures and divisions of labour, employing carriers, diggers, washers, foremen, dealers, and buyers. Behind these operations stand financiers and sponsors, both Ghanaian and foreign, who provide machinery, fuel, and capital. Territorial control is fiercely maintained, sometimes through intimidation and violence, while revenue from gold sales often bypasses the formal banking system and is channelled into money laundering and smuggling. In every way, these groups operate with the planning, continuity, and profit motives that define organised criminal enterprises.
Foreign involvement has deepened the problem. A significant number of Chinese nationals have been arrested in connection with illegal mining, along with Togolese, Burkinabés, Nigerians, and others from across Africa and beyond. Many of them bring in advanced equipment, funding, and networks that allow the business to flourish. Their presence is tolerated and even enabled by the complicity of some local officials. My findings revealed that miners have been operating without legal permits for more than a decade yet continue their activities openly, a boldness that would be impossible without the protection and connivance of elements within state institutions. Immigration officers, security agencies, regulators, and political elites have all been implicated in sustaining the industry.
The cultural and spiritual dimensions of galamsey add an even more troubling layer. Illegal miners frequently engage spiritualists, pastors, and traditional priests, seeking supernatural protection and prosperity. Rituals range from animal sacrifices to, in extreme instances, human sacrifices. In some communities, deaths at mine sites are perversely seen as signs of greater gold to be found. This practice not only highlights the desperation that underpins the trade but also the depth of its social and moral distortions.
Despite numerous attempts by successive governments to halt illegal mining, interventions have failed. Security-driven measures such as mass arrests, deportations of foreigners, and the confiscation of equipment have not stopped the trade because they target its symptoms rather than its foundations. The financiers, gold buyers, and sponsors remain untouched, and the political costs of confronting them have deterred real reform. Laws exist but are weakly enforced, and in many cases, institutions are paralysed by corruption or political pressure.
What is required now is a complete rethinking of the problem. Illegal gold mining must be recognised and treated as an organised criminal enterprise. This recognition will allow the application of stronger laws, including asset confiscation, longer prison terms, and prosecution under anti-money laundering and anti-organised crime frameworks. The entire value chain must be disrupted, from financiers and logistics providers to buyers and exporters. At the same time, genuine artisanal miners should be identified, supported, and integrated into the formal sector so that they are not criminalised alongside entrenched syndicates. This approach must be anchored in strengthened institutions, transparent regulation, and above all, the political will to confront corruption and elite interference.
Illegal gold mining is not just an environmental issue. It pollutes rivers, destroys farmland, and leaves behind scarred landscapes, but it also corrodes governance, fuels corruption, undermines national institutions, and endangers security. It draws Ghana deeper into the web of transnational organised crime, exposing the country to networks that operate across borders and thrive on weak systems. Unless addressed with urgency and seriousness, galamsey will leave Ghana with a toxic legacy of poisoned communities, ruined ecosystems, and compromised governance. It is time to stop treating it as a nuisance and confront it for what it truly is: organised crime operating in plain sight.
