Abstract
Recent interest by governmental, non-governmental and civil society organisations in monitoring, tracing, tracking and flushing out illegal mining activities in Ghana has intensified due to the fact that large tracts of arable lands, forests and water resources are destroyed by this group of illegal miners. Yet, the scale of operation, types, characteristics and spatial distribution of illegal mining activities across the 16 regions of Ghana remain inadequate in the scientific literature. This study investigates the types, characteristics and spatial distribution of galamsey activities in Upper West Region. Cross-sectional spatial data were sourced using Garmin GPS extre 30 and corroborated with key informant interviews in Wa East, Wa West and Nadowli-Kaleo Districts. From the results, a total of 2505 individual sightings under 6 major galamsey types (underground pit, dig and check, dig and wash, chamfi, mill house and shormp) were uncovered. The results showed that Wa West District is dominated by the dig and check galamsey while Wa East District hosts the large majority of the underground pits. In addition, Nadowli-Kaleo District is dominated by the underground pit galamsey. Wa East District was the hotspot of illegal mining activities (1644 sightings) in the region. Based on the characterisation, this study, argued that galamsey activities in Upper West Region are still at the rudimentary stage as compared to other geographies in Ghana. Constant monitoring of the where and how ASM activities are being carried out in the region is pertinent in eradicating and reclaiming galamsey degraded lands.
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Source: Authors (2021)
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Source: Field Survey (2021)
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Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our appreciation to Mr. Godwin K. Naazie, Mr. Abudi Iddrisu, Mr. Inusah Adama Abu, Mr. Peter Dery Bolang, Mr. Abdul-Razak Saaka and Mr. Malik Limman for the diverse support you offered us during the field data collection. Our gratitude also goes to the chiefs, assembly members, lead miners and all the artisanal and small-scale mining groups in the study communities for giving us the audience, space and time to conduct the research.
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Baddianaah, I., Baatuuwie, B.N. & Adongo, R. Geospatial characterisation and distribution of Illegal gold mining (galamsey) operations in Upper West Region, Ghana. GeoJournal 88, 789–810 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10642-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10642-3