Galamsey, derived from the phrase "gather them and sell", is a local Ghanaian parlance that means

illegal Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body. Illegal may also refer to: Law * Violation of law * Crime, the practice of breaking the ...

small-scale,

gold mining in Ghana The Mining industry of Ghana accounts for 5% of the country's GDP and minerals make up 37% of total exports, of which gold contributes over 90% of the total mineral exports. Thus, the main focus of Ghana's mining and minerals development industr ...

. Such workers are known as galamseyers or ''orpailleurs'' in neighboring

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

nations. Galamseyers are people who perform illegal

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...

independent of

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

companies, digging small working pits, tunnels, and sluices by hand. Galamsey is also referred to as Illegal Artisanal Small Scale mining (ASM).

Background

Generally the galamseyers can dig only to a limited depth, far shallower and smaller than commercial mining companies. Under current Ghanaian law, it is illegal for galamseyers to dig on land granted to mining companies as concessions or licenses. Most galamseyers find gold in free metallic dust form or they process oxide or sulphide gold ore using liquid

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

. The number of galamseyers in Ghana is unknown, but believed to be from 20,000 to 50,000, including thousands from China. The Information Minister recently claimed there are now 200,000 people engaged in galamsey, and according to other sources, there are nearly 3 million who rely on it for their livelihoods. They mostly operate in the southern part of Ghana where there are substantial reserves of gold deposits, usually within the environs of the larger mining companies. As a group, they are economically disadvantaged. Galamsey settlements are usually poorer than neighboring agricultural villages. They have high rates of accidents and are exposed to

mercury poisoning Mercury poisoning is a type of metal poisoning due to exposure to mercury. Symptoms depend upon the type, dose, method, and duration of exposure. They may include muscle weakness, poor coordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rashe ...

from their crude processing methods. Many women are among the workers, acting mostly as porters for the miners. In some cases, galamseyers are the first to discover and work extensive gold deposits before mining companies find out and take over. Galamsey workings are an indicator of the presence of gold. In the Francophone countries surrounding Ghana, similar local artisanal gold miners are called ''orpailleurs'' ().

Types of galamsey

Causes

The major cause of galamsey is unemployment among the youth in Ghana. Young university graduates rarely find work, and when they do it hardly sustains them. The result is that these youth go the extra mile to earn a living for themselves and their family. Another factor is that lack of job security.

Dangers

On 13 November 2009 a

collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects * Collapsing user interface elements ** ...

occurred in an illegal, privately owned mine in

Dompoase Dompoase, a suburb of Kumasi, and located in the Adansi North District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The place is known for Dompoase Senior High School. It is a town of 30,000 people in Ghana. Kumasi is the capital of the region, considered the ...

, in the

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. At least 18 workers were killed, including 13 women, who worked as porters for the miners. Officials described the disaster as the worst mine collapse in Ghanaian history while the Appeatse Explosion is the worst mine related disaster in Ghanaian history.

Environmental impact

Illegal mining Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission, in particular in absence of land rights, mining licenses, and exploration or mineral transportation permits. Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the cas ...

damages the land and water supply. In March 2017, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, gave the galamsey operators/illegal miners a three-week ultimatum to stop their activities or be prepared to face the law. The activities by galamseyers have depleted Ghana's forest cover and they have caused water pollution, due to the crude and unregulated nature of the mining process.

References

{{Reflist

External links

"Mining in Ghana – Golden future for the galamsey"
World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Archived from the original.
''The Money Stone''
a documentary film about the galamsey
"Galamsey: Will Work for Gold"
feature article from the Common Language Project