New Report Exposes Moneylaundering, Gambling and Prostitution In Ghana’s Gold Mining Sector

Source: Africa Publicity

Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector is undergoing significant transformation amid growing criminal infiltration, foreign involvement, and environmental degradation, a new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, has revealed.

The report, says the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, is based on three years of fieldwork, satellite analysis, and interviews, provides an evidence-based mapping of illicit mining, showing how informal operations are reshaping local economies, environments, and power structures.

According to the report, the injection of investment and technology – often by foreign nationals particularly Chinese and Burkinabe – is significantly shaping unlicensed mining operations, gold supply chains, and financial flows.

It says the growing use of cyanide – introduced by foreign nationals from neighboring West African countries – is reshaping processing activities and regional financial and gold flows.

The report exposed incidents of money laundering, saying casinos in Ghanaian mining areas present a high risk for money laundering, lamenting also that “There is a worrying rise in the sexual exploitation of women in mining communities with patterns consistent with trafficking.

The report adds that “The future of Ghana’s gold sector is closely linked to evolving power dynamics and competition for control and profits from the sector.”