The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has launched Operation WATER SHIELD, a sustained national enforcement campaign aimed at protecting Ghana’s major rivers, watersheds and other critical water resources from the effects of illegal mining.

The campaign is intended to move the fight against illegal mining away from isolated raids towards a sustained, intelligence-led operation targeting illegal mining activities across entire river systems.

Under Operation WATER SHIELD, enforcement teams will focus on protecting river systems from their source areas through to downstream communities and water-treatment facilities.

In a statement issued on Friday, September 11 and signed by the Media Relations Officer of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and Spokesperson for NAIMOS, Paa Kwesi Schandorf, he said the operation would initially target some of Ghana’s most threatened rivers, including the Birim, Ankobra, Tano, Bia, Pra and Offin Rivers, as well as affected sections of the Black and White Volta systems.

Strategic source areas and upper catchments will also receive priority attention because activities in those areas can have serious consequences for water quality further downstream.

According to NAIMOS, the campaign will be carried out in collaboration with relevant security and state agencies.

The operation will focus on protecting strategic river source areas, preventing illegal miners from accessing riverbanks and waterways, and dismantling the logistics networks that support illegal mining.

It will also target the criminal and financial structures that sustain illegal mining activities.

NAIMOS said the campaign would support the restoration of degraded water bodies while ensuring that areas cleared of illegal miners are continuously monitored to prevent them from returning.

The Secretariat said its ultimate goal was to “substantially degrade and contain illegal mining within protected watersheds” while restricting the movement of heavy equipment into critical river systems.

It also aims to disrupt the financing and supply networks behind illegal mining, improve water quality and restore effective control over affected river basins.

NAIMOS has warned that enforcement under Operation WATER SHIELD will be firm and sustained.

“Illegal miners operating on water bodies and riverbanks should expect their operations to be disrupted and their equipment seized, immobilised or otherwise dealt with in accordance with applicable law and established procedures,” the Secretariat said.

Excavators, chanfang machines, water pumps, dredging equipment and other machinery used to destroy water bodies will be among the main targets of the operation.

The campaign will, however, go beyond the miners operating directly on riverbanks.

NAIMOS said individuals and businesses that facilitate illegal mining would also come under increased scrutiny.

This includes facilitators, unauthorised fabricators of chanfang machines, and individuals or companies that rent or supply excavators, pumps and other equipment for illegal mining.

The Secretariat said targeting these networks was necessary to disrupt the wider system that allows illegal mining activities to continue.

As part of the operation, river corridors cleared of illegal mining activities will be monitored continuously to prevent reoccupation and support environmental recovery.