Q&A: Can AI help tackle Ghana's illegal gold mining?

LAGOS - Africa's biggest gold producer Ghana is deploying artificial intelligence, GPS trackers and drones to crack down on illegal gold mining that has poisoned its rivers and destroyed its forests.

In June, the government launched the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat, a multi-agency initiative that is using technology to detect and track illegal sites.

Nearly 40% of Ghana's gold is extracted by small-scale miners who use dangerous chemicals like mercury and cyanide to process it.

Authorities say the toxic waste generated from these wildcat operations are partly responsible for the pollution of nearly 60% of the country's water bodies.

Government officials say 44 forest reserves have been destroyed by illicit gold mining, known locally as "galamsey," which translates as "to gather and sell."

Paa Kwesi Schandorf, spokesperson for the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, discussed with Context in a phone interview how the use of technology is part of a broader national strategy to reclaim lands and forest reserves that have been hijacked by illegal miners.

Ghana has launched several task forces over the years to tackle illegal mining. How will AI and technology make a difference?

Ghana has 288 forest reserves, and 44 have been adversely impacted by illegal gold mining. The reserves affected are about 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres), equivalent to the size of more than 7,500 football pitches. Many of them are in hard-to-reach areas.

The new secretariat is deploying drones to film and capture these areas that have been besieged by illegal miners. We have a 24-hour control room at the Minerals Commission that gets the feed, and they send out the task force to make arrests based on the visuals and data from the drone feed.

In the past, people would also transport excavators directly from the ports to a mining area, making it difficult to trace them. We now have a system that requires that GPS trackers be installed on all excavators imported into the country.

These are smart, AI-enhanced GPS trackers that give us movement history and real-time analysis of the data. Anywhere the excavator goes, you know exactly where it is and what it is really being used for.

The technology, the data and the intelligence structures that we have put in place have helped us to dislodge many illegal miners, their equipment and weapons as well.

What support is being offered to communities that rely on small-scale mining?

One of our approaches is education and awareness. We found that the literacy and educational levels in most rural communities where illegal mining operations are ongoing are low.

Most of the local miners hold these superstitious beliefs that no matter how much the environment is devastated, Mother Earth has a way of recovering itself. And so they do it with reckless abandon.

Many of them lack alternative means of livelihood, and there is a ready market that absorbs their output. When you visit the mining communities, you'll see a gold shop operated by a syndicate of unlicensed gold traders, who are mostly foreign nationals, offering locals immediate cash to buy the proceeds of illegal mining.

That has been a motivation for residents. That is why the government is developing an education and skills empowerment programme to inform people about alternative opportunities.

How soon will Ghanaians see improvements in the environment?

Given the extent of the devastation and its impact on our water and forests, it would be impossible to assign any specific timelines to a period of recovery.

We are now addressing the damage through land reclamation, which involves planting trees to reclaim mining pits that have been left bare and uncovered.

There is a component of water treatment that comes with it, but that is an expensive enterprise. There is also an initiative aiming to plant some 30 million trees to replace those that have been cut down.

But we are seeing significant improvements because there is a will to curb illegal mining.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

(Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley.)