In this Hotline documentary, I travelled to Bonsaaso in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region to explore how the Chinese involvement in illegal small scale mining is affecting the people, and the environment. I stood at the edge of a yawning pit, almost as wide as a football park and about 30 meters deep. This particular pit was flooded with hundreds of young men, women and even children who should be in school at that time of the day. Some were hauling the gold-bearing rocks from the pit to the crushing machines, the Shang Fa, which is imported into the country from China. And talk of China, as I looked around I saw about 15 Chinese nationals working closely with the locals. The Chinese are the managers of these pits. The Ghanaians manage to acquire the license and then get the Chinese to invest their monies. With heavy capital investment, and relatively cheap labour from the communities the Chinese are able to clear large areas of forest for their operations. They have, in fact, mechanized artisanal mining and as a result the level of environmental devastation is huge. Thirty-five-year-old Eric Agyapong is worried about this development. Eric agrees that galamsay, whether operated by Ghanaians or the Chinese, destroys the land and the environment yet he is quick to condemn the extent of destruction at the hands of the Chinese. Listen to the full documentary attached