Rivers once teeming with life and feeding millions are now scarred brown with silt and toxic chemicals as illegal gold mining — known locally as galamsey — tightens its deadly grip across Ghana’s landscapes. The crisis has sparked an intensified national mobilisation involving the military, environmental regulators and community watchdog groups.
In recent months, the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has carried out bold enforcement actions dismantling galamsey camps deep in the Eastern Region and beyond. In one operation, NAIMOS officers confiscated excavators, pump machines and mining equipment abandoned by fleeing operators, leaving behind wide open pits that now entrap water and threaten children who play nearby.
Across 2025, security agencies arrested 1,486 illegal miners and seized 443 excavators and heavy machinery in widespread raids. Officials say the campaign not only disrupts illicit networks but also pushes for land reclamation and environmental restoration.
But the financial cost of healing the wounds is staggering. Government data reveal Ghana faces a US$264 million bill to restore more than 5,500 hectares of land devastated by ‘galamsey’. Even this estimate excludes water treatment and long-term monitoring costs.
Reacting to the escalating danger, the government has unveiled a renewed strategy to target illegal mining in waterbodies and forest reserves, with the Ghana Armed Forces leading nationwide cleanup efforts and NAIMOS stepping up crackdowns in strategic hot spots.
Environmentalists warn that without decisive action, Ghana’s rivers, forests, agriculture and public health could be irreversibly compromised, sacrificing generations for short-term gold gains.
