Tag: Illegal Mining
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🇬🇭 Abesua Bridge Collapse: Four Arrested as Galamsey Investigation Expands in Ghana
Four people, including two Unit Committee members, have been arrested after illegal mining activities allegedly contributed to the collapse of the River Kukubu bridge in Ghana’s Ashanti Region, cutting off several communities and disrupting schools, farming, trade and healthcare access.
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DR Congo Suspends Artisanal Mining Agency Chief Over Failure to Prevent Illegal Activities
DR Congo’s mines minister has suspended SAEMAPE director general Jean-Paul Kadiobo Kapongo, accusing the state artisanal-mining agency of failing to prevent illegal mining on licensed concessions. The move could signal tighter government enforcement across the country’s informal mining sector.
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🇳🇬 33 Young Miners Die in Nigerian Detention Cell as Probe Blames “Cruel and Inhuman” Conditions
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An investigation into the deaths of 33 people arrested over suspected illegal gold mining in Nigeria has blamed severe overcrowding, inadequate ventilation, heat stress and dehydration. Fourteen victims were reportedly minors, with investigators describing the detention conditions as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
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🇬🇭 Ghana Deploys Military Engineers to Restore Tano Nimri Forest Reserve After Galamsey Damage
Ghana has begun restoring 50 hectares of the Tano Nimri Forest Reserve degraded by illegal mining, bringing together GoldBod, the Ghana Armed Forces and the Forestry Commission in one of the country’s most significant forest-reclamation initiatives.
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🇬🇭 Ghana’s Gold Rush: Who Pays the Price for Mineral Wealth?
Ghana’s Birim Valley sits at the intersection of mineral wealth, livelihoods and environmental pressure. From diamonds to gold, informal and illegal mining — widely known as galamsey — provides income for communities while raising serious concerns about land degradation, water pollution and mineral smuggling. Ghana now faces the challenge of building a formal, traceable and…
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🇿🇦 Stilfontein: The Miners Trapped Underground and the Rescue That Came Too Late
A deadly confrontation in Stilfontein exposed the human cost of South Africa’s illegal gold-mining economy, as hundreds of miners became trapped underground during a government crackdown. Survivors recount hunger, fear and a desperate struggle for rescue—raising difficult questions about mining, poverty, criminal networks and the future of Africa’s mineral wealth.
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🇬🇭 Africa’s Organised Crime Index 2025: 23 Countries Face High Criminality and Weak Resilience
The 2025 Africa Organised Crime Index finds that organised crime has expanded across the continent since 2019 while resilience has weakened. Twenty-three African countries face the combination of high criminality and low resilience, with financial crime, trafficking, resource crime, counterfeit goods and arms trafficking among the continent’s most pervasive criminal markets.
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🇬🇭 13 Suspected Illegal Miners Arrested in Osino as NAIMOS Intensifies Galamsey Crackdown
NAIMOS has arrested 13 suspected illegal miners at Osino in Ghana’s Eastern Region and destroyed mining equipment found at the site, in another operation targeting the persistent return of galamsey activities.
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Sand Smuggling Plagues West Africa, Fueling Crime and Environmental Crisis
A silent crisis, unfolding in the rivers and on the coasts of West Africa, is fueling transnational crime and devastating communities: the illegal smuggling of sand. While often overlooked, sand is the second most exploited resource in the world after water, and unprecedented demand is driving a lucrative black market. Recent international operations reveal that…
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🇲🇿 In Mozambique, a group of illegal miners killed two police officers guarding a ruby mine.
“A group of about 40 illegal miners came to the gates of the Montepuez Ruby Mining. They attacked Mozambican police officers at the gates and killed two,” said a statement from the British mining company Gemfields, which owns the site. The company reported that the attack is related to a clash between district immigration authorities…