Mining companies in Ghana’s Western Region, including AngloGold Ashanti, have voiced serious concerns about the rising encroachment of illegal mining activities, known as Galamsey in Ghana.
These unauthorized mining operations are increasingly spreading into areas surrounding legal mining concessions, causing multiple challenges for established companies.
Production Challenges for Mining Companies
Environmental Contamination and Health Risks of Galamsey in Ghana – According to Abraham Osei Badu
In addition to production concerns, AngloGold Ashanti has highlighted the environmental and health hazards caused by Galamsey activities. Streams and other water sources that the company had worked to preserve have now become polluted due to the illegal mining operations. Contaminated water poses a serious health threat to local communities who rely on these water sources for drinking and irrigation.
Beyond environmental degradation, AngloGold Ashanti has also reported substantial financial losses from Galamsey activities. Illegal miners have been stealing equipment and other assets from the company’s sites, forcing AngloGold Ashanti to spend significant amounts of money replacing stolen property. These thefts compound the financial burden on the company as it tries to maintain its operations under difficult conditions.
AngloGold Ashanti’s leadership is urging authorities to take swift action to address the growing illegal mining activities. Without effective intervention, the company fears that both its production and the health of nearby communities will continue to be at risk. The increasing proximity of Galamsey to their concession underlines the urgency of the situation.
Abraham Osei Badu, the Acting Managing Director of AngloGold Ashanti, has warned that if Galamsey activities are not brought under control, they could severely affect the company’s production. With these illegal miners operating dangerously close to their concession, the company’s ability to sustain regular production is being threatened. This growing encroachment is not only a risk to operational efficiency but also to the safety of the infrastructure.
Some years ago it [Galamsey] used to be minor, but currently the effects and activity coming all over around our operations and then attacking some of the streams that we have kept clean all over our concession.
As of now, we still do our best to keep them clean. But unfortunately, you get to see some of them that have been tampered with. From a source that is a little bit far from our operation, it gets contaminated, then it comes through the concession.
Yes, these activities are a threat to our business because we are very close to our communities. The community use this water for their farm and domestic activity. So imagine somebody going to fetch contaminated water to go and spray vegetables.
So directly, the vegetable is already contaminated and it can create problems for the community and everybody who actually goes to take that vegetable So for us, as a mine, we do not support that. It is something that we cannot tolerate and we are very much against those illegal activities, he said.
