A political scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr Joshua Zaato, has questioned what happens to gold extracted through illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, insisting that a critical gap remains in the national conversation about the fight against the menace.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Wednesday, February 26, Dr Zaato expressed concern about the environmental and human cost of illegal mining and challenged authorities to account for the destination of galamsey gold within the system.

“Our waters have been poisoned, our trees have been poisoned, our rivers have been poisoned, human beings have been poisoned. Birth defects, cancers, and the rest that happen—they are all happening here,” he said.

Dr Zaato argued that while there have been public assurances about efforts to curb illegal mining and gold smuggling, there has been no clear and rigorous policy direction on how to separate illegally mined gold from legally sourced gold.

“I did not see a rigorous policy announcement yesterday to separate Galamsey gold from real gold. I didn’t see that. So far, there has been a very important question that we refuse to answer,” he stated.

He continued, "There is Galamsey gold in the system right now. My question is, what happens to the Galamsey gold? My question is, where does the Galamsey gold go?”

The political scientist noted that while it is widely asserted that the state’s gold trading authorities do not purchase illegally mined gold, the persistence and apparent expansion of galamsey operations suggest that the proceeds must be finding their way somewhere.

“Now, we are saying that GoldBod has successfully prevented smuggling of Galamsey… But Galamsey is going on, and there’s Galamsey Gold. What happens to it? Where does it go?” he queried.

Dr Zaato further reasoned that if such gold is being confiscated by the state, it should logically weaken the financial capacity of illegal miners to continue operating.

“If they are confiscated by the state, then it means that the Galamseyers now do not have money to invest. But we are told that they are still expanding their business,” he observed.

He cautioned against prioritising economic targets at the expense of environmental sustainability and public health, warning of long-term consequences if illegal mining is tacitly tolerated.

“My sincere hope and prayer is that we don’t try to achieve these figures on the back of our health, on the back of the destruction of our business, on the back of our forest. We don’t try to do this by ignoring or closing one eye while allowing Galamsey to come and pass,” he said.

“When we do that, there will be no human beings left to benefit from the economy,” he concluded.