Environmental Impacts of Mining: A Study of Mining Communities in Ghana

Mineral exploitation contributes significantly to economic growth and development in most world economies. In Africa, Ghana is the second largest gold producer, contributing to about 5.7% of the country’s GDP. The mining sector in Ghana consists of both small-scale and large-scale mining, each of which has varying environmental impacts. This paper provides an exposition on the environmental impacts of mining activities in Ghana. The paper mainly focused on the mining activities in Prestea in the western region of the country. The data collection involved both primary and secondary sources. These included research tools such as review of relevant literature including policies and legal documents, participant observation, in-depth interviews with mining communities and government officials, environmental assessments of various mining sites in the study area. The findings from the study showed that mining activities, especially that resulting from illegal small-scale mining (popularly known as ‘galamsey’) deplete environmental resources such as water, soil, the landscape, vegetation, the ecosystem, among others. The paper concluded that major rivers in the region have been heavily polluted, especially by illegal small-scale mining; land in areas surrounding mines has been rendered bare and susceptible to increased erosion and loss of viability for agricultural purposes, among other uses; increased clearing of vegetation for mining areas has adversely altered the hydrological regimes and/or patterns in the western region of Ghana; important soil organisms have been destroyed and stable soil aggregates disrupted and eventually depriving the soil of organic matter and low levels of macronutrients and soil fertility necessary for plant growth and crop production. This inevitably leads to pending food insecurity in most parts of Ghana, in the long term. On the basis of the above, the paper recommended that there should be effective community participation in environmental decision making to ensure sustainable mining activities; easing of the registration process for small-scale mines; addressing the various weaknesses in the policies and their enforcement in the mining sector; establishment of environmental oversight groups in mining communities; and create environmental awareness campaigns and/or education in mining communities.