Hello,
You may have heard of blood diamonds but not of unethical gold. The unabated mining for this metal has been causing significant environmental havoc in the West African Nation of Ghana.
Meanwhile to curb India’s insatiable appetite for this precious yellow metal, we continue to boost our import of gold from Ghana even as it is tainted.
Nearly three quarters of gold mines in southern Ghana are illegal and unlicensed causing unmitigated damage to river basins in the region, seeping soils and waterways with poisonous metals like mercury and arsenic.
India makes an inextricable part of this unethical trade. A sixth of Ghanaian gold trade is directly with India, whose consumers are known for their insatiable appetite for this precious yellow metal and no scruples on its procurement.
Several Indian traders and smugglers have been caught indicted in Ghana for facilitating this trade. But these public exposes hide a larger truth. Recently, Ghana set up a centralised authority to handle trade and export of Ghanaian gold. Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama announced that the state authority would not distinguish between gold mined legally and illegally.
Traders worldwide stand to benefit from this new regime, Indians included.
The Reporters’ Collective, in collaboration with Forbidden Stories—an international network of investigative journalists—as well as Fourth Estate—a non-profit, public investigative journalism project of the Media Foundation for West Africa—brings you this new report on Ghana’s illicit gold trade.
Read the report here: Destination India: Illegal Gold Laundered Clean by the Ghana Government
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Warm Regards
Ayushi Kar
Reporter
The Reporters’ Collective.