Quest for gold in African mud
Tens of thousands of Chinese are making millions from mining in Ghana, but success comes at a high price - death, robbery and angry accusations
A gold rush in the resource-rich west African country of Ghana, led by an estimated 50,000 Chinese prospectors, is threatening to turn nasty amid allegations of illegal mining and escalating ethnic tensions.
Many of the prospectors have left Ghana in the past few months as tensions have risen, saying they feel helpless and angry, and accusing Beijing of failing to protect their interests.
Su Zhenyu , secretary general of the Chinese Mining Association in Ghana, said last month: "Our representatives had a meeting with a team made up of officials from the Chinese embassy in Ghana and high-ranking officials from our hometown.
"We just felt depressed. When we needed help and backup from our country, what our officials tried to do was to sacrifice us for diplomatic face. If we were illegal and mining in the wrong way in Ghana, we want our government to help us be legal and act right, not simply abandon us in trouble. We have invested huge amounts here and it's impossible for us to quit."
More than 50,000 Chinese gold miners, two thirds of them from villages in the impoverished county of Shanglin in Guangxi , says Su, have poured into Ghana since 2005.
Su said Chinese miners had invested many billions of yuan, with each of the 2,000 gold mines they were operating costing 3 million yuan (HK$3.8 million).