As the global price of gold soars, the 2nd largest gold
producer in Africa, Ghana, has felt the rush. The promise of finding work in
the gold mines brings thousands of Ghanaians to the mining towns. Because few
jobs in the formal mining sector are available for Ghanaians, most turn to
galamsey mining – small scale, informal mining, carried out with the most basic
tools. Galamsey mining is extremely dangerous due to frequent mine collapses,
poisonous dust inhalation and exposure to mercury. Many of the miners also
become entrapped in debt bondage: With no money to begin operating, they are
often forced to take out high-interest loans, where they sell the gold they
extract to the same broker from whom they took the loan. It means that the
price they fetch for their gold is much below global market prices and never
enough to re-pay their debt. The inability of the galamsey gang masters to pay
their debt leaves them in a desperate situation where they use slave labor and
exploit women and children. Of the estimated 30,000-50,000 galamsey miners,
10,000 are children working in hazardous conditions that put their health and
even survival at risk. Sexual violence has emerged as a regular and disturbing
issue as girls are trafficked into sexual slavery.
