Easy riches draw illegal Chinese miners to Ghana

Porous borders, corruption and the chance of riches have helped draw illegal gold miners to Ghana from as far away as China, prompting a crackdown that has so far netted over 150 Chinese, experts say.

The continent’s second-largest producer of gold and a beacon of stability in turbulent west Africa, Ghana has been struggling with the impact of small-scale mining, which is illegal for foreigners and damages the environment.

Sydney Casely-Hayford, a prominent financial analyst, said Ghanaian traditional leaders and businessmen encourage the mining, and the crackdown won’t stop it for good.

“It’s quick and easy money,” Casely-Hayford said. “There is nothing you can do because the traditional authorities want the money, the operators want the money, the Chinese want the money -- they want the gold.”

A task force of police, immigration and national security agents last month began a campaign to flush out the illegal miners, which authorities blame for harming water supplies and the environment.

President John Dramani Mahama, who is under increasing pressure to halt the practice, ordered the task force last month.