In Ghana, the co-operative model is being used to bring small-scale gold miners into a regulated system – while, the government claims, protecting against environmental damage.
In 2021, then ational government began encouraging small-scale miners to form co-ops as a way to formalise the sector, reduce environmental harm, improve safety, and help miners access financial resources.
At the time, between 60 and 80% of miners were estimated to be operating illegally under a practice known locally as galamsey. A contemporary report from the Copenhagen Consensus Center highlighted that more than 200 water bodies within mining districts were found to be polluted by alluvial gold mining operations, and concluded that mining co-ops could be an effective way of formalising the industry.
In response, the Ghanaian government began taking steps to create more co-ops in the mining industry.
Five years later, five new ‘Responsible Cooperative Mining Societies’ have been inaugurated in Ghana. At a ceremony in Ellembelle on 16 October, Bawuah Akwasi Adjei, Ghana’s western regional director of co-operatives, called on members of the new co-ops to mine legally and protect the environment.
According to GhanaWeb, Adjei described the inauguration “as a historic duty to formalise a dream, realise livelihoods, and sanitise an industry that had for years been characterised by informality, unsafe practices and destruction”.
Adjei is quoted as saying: “We can mine, but we mine responsibly. We can make money, but we will not destroy our rivers. We can dig for gold, but we will not dig the grave of our future.”
He called on the new co-ops to ensure transparency and accountability, uphold the principle of one person, one vote, and urged them to commit to measures such as wearing protective gear and planting trees after mining.
Addressing the newly inaugurated co-ops, Adjei added: “Keep books, weigh gold openly, share profits fairly, and invite audits. Once trust is lost, the society dies.”
