All 44 gold-rich forest reserves in Ghana encroached by illegal miners — Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that 44 out of Ghana’s 288 officially declared forest reserves have been encroached by illegal miners.

He said the remaining reserves have likely not been touched because they do not contain gold deposits.

This, he noted, highlights the worsening environmental damage caused by illegal mining, also known locally as galamsey.

Speaking at a meeting with the Catholic Bishops Conference of Ghana on Friday, May 23, the President blamed the rapid destruction of the environment on the use of heavy-duty machinery such as excavators and chanfan machines.

“We have 288 forest reserves in this country that are officially declared. Out of the 288, 44 of them have been encroached. So our luck with the other forest reserves that have not been encroached is because there’s no gold in those forest reserves.

“The complication has been the foreigners who invaded the space and the new equipment they brought, which is able to destroy a huge acreage in a short time. They brought excavators, and they brought what they call chanfan machines. That was the beginning of our troubles,” the President said.

The President noted that the galamsey fight remains a complex one due to several underlying factors, especially the lack of economic opportunities for the youth.

He said about 1.5 million young Ghanaians are currently engaged in both legal and illegal mining activities.

“But I must say that we are engaged in the fight. It’s a very complex fight. Unfortunately, because of the lack of economic opportunity, a lot of our young people who are unskilled have found themselves in illegal small-scale mining as an easy avenue to gain employment and make an income,” he stated.