Paying the Price

Forty-year-old Meng Tianming finally heaved a sigh of relief when his flight touched down in Baiyun Airport， Guangzhou， on June 7. “I’d barely escaped death，” Meng later told our reporter.

Stocky in build and heavily tanned， Meng has been mining in Ghana， Africa’s second-biggest gold producer， for the past three years. Like thousands of his fellow miners from Shanglin County， Guangxi Province， Meng was lured to this gold-rich West African country by the prospect of quick riches working for Chinese mining concerns.

On May 14， Ghanaian President John Mahama ordered a crackdown on illegal gold and diamond mining. Mahama said to the Ghanaian media： “In organizing this inter-ministerial taskforce targeting illegal small-scale mining， I am sending a clear signal to the offending individuals and groups that the government will not allow their activities to cause conflict， dislocation， environmental degradation， and unemployment， when， in fact， the sector should benefit our commu- nities and help develop Ghana.”

In this clamp-down initiative， a total of 169 Chinese miners were detained， threatened and attacked， and over 100 million yuan（US$16m） worth of mining equipment was confiscated or destroyed by the Ghanaian taskforce.

According to Meng Tianming， over half of the seats on his homebound plane were occupied by former miners from Shanglin.

Small Scale

Total gold reserves in Ghana are estimated to be over 1.75 billion ounces， enough to keep the country’s mines running for an estimated 700 years. Most of the large-scale ore mines are operated by Western mining companies or African local cooperatives including Greenwood Village， the Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp. （NEM）， Johannesburg’s AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. （ANG） and Gold Fields Ltd.（GFI）.

Ghana’s mining regulations decree that only Ghanaian citizens can hold small-scale mining licenses， and foreign companies are only allowed to work on large， open-pit operations or to provide technical support and equipment to Ghanaian miners. Accordingly， many Ghanaian-owned small-scale mining operations have sought Chinese funding and equipment. Tens of thousands of Chinese nationals， many of them illegal immigrants， have also flooded into Ghana’s gold industry.

Cheap， Chinese-made gold mining equipment has quickly become popular in mining towns in Ghana and Chinese entrepreneurs are also controlling small-scale operations behind the scenes， typically through local intermediaries. Chinese shops and restaurants have begun to appear in the mining town of Ashanti Kumasi， the country’s gold hub.

‘Gold Rushers’

The vast majority of Chinese gold miners working illegally in Ghanaian mines come from the small county of Shanglin in southern Guangxi， a province approximately the same size as Ghana. Chen Meilian， a spokeswoman for the Shanglin government， said recently that at least 12，000 local residents had left in the African gold rush that began in 2006.

“We Shanglin natives are good at mining gold； this is our inborn talent，” said Meng Tianming， who has worked in gold mines for over 20 years， and learned his business in his early teens.

While Shanglin’s alluvial gold reserves cannot hold a candle to Ghana’s rich seams， many locals cut their teeth in the gold industry in China in the early 1980s， relying on traditional picks， shovels and panning. Later， sand pumps were employed to pump gold-flecked silt through a filtration system. As Meng Tianming puts it， “Only we Shanglin people can master this technology.”

When local gold resources dried up， Shanglin’s miners departed for other gold-rich areas of China， particularly Xinjiang， Shandong， and Heilongjiang provinces. Meng Tianming went to Heilongjiang at the age of 18 to work in gold mines. Unscrupulous mining in that province， coupled with inefficient equipment and a general lack of knowhow led the central government to clamp down on all but the biggest State projects， and private mining operations were banned.

This forced Shanglin’s miners to look outside of China for opportunities， and they set their sights on gold-rich Ghana， prompting an exodus. Official statistics in Ghana indicate that over half of the country’s annual gold output is mined by Chinese laborers， most of them illegal workers.

In the mid-2000s， the first group of Shanglin miners introduced their unique sand pumping technology to Ghana， which facilitated the small-scale extraction of gold dust.

Seeing that more and more of his fellow countrymen had made a fortune in West Africa， Meng Tianming was itching to get in on the action. He and four of his relatives raised a total of two million yuan（US$326，222） in early 2010， buying sand pumps and shipping the equipment to Ghana before applying for visas.

Following the advice of other Shanglin miners， upon arrival， Meng Tianming contacted a village chief in Kumasi， who helped Meng locate a small gold deposit owned by a local landlord. Meng spent 20，000 Ghanaian cedi （US$12，000） on obtaining a lease on 25 acres of land， and then paid compensation to local farmers for crop losses. Then， heedless of the Ghanaian government’s restrictions on smallscale private mining operations， he started work.

Excavators would extract riverbank sand until the gold layer was exposed. Then， the sand pump would be fined up， sluicing silt down a trough and through a series of filters designed to trap gold nuggets and flakes. Meng took personal charge of collecting the nuggets.

Maneuvering

Meng admits that he knew there was a risk in going into the Ghanaian gold business. “Ghana’s laws forbid foreigners to conduct smallscale gold mining，” he told NewsChina. “But in our contracts with the locals， we required the local chief and our Ghanaian business partners to fix any legal issues involving the government.”

While such a strategy would might prove effective in China， where local notables typically have secured their positions through connections in high places， the same is not necessarily true in Ghana. Meng’s unfamiliarity with the existing political and social climate in his new place of business would quickly lead him into trouble.

Before the fully-fledged crackdown on illegal mining operations， signs that the Ghanaian authorities were pushing back against the influx of Chinese were everywhere. Sporadic arrests of illegal Chinese miners began to occur， followed by deportations. In October 2012， a 16-year-old Chinese boy was shot dead while fleeing armed security personnel in the gold-rich Ashanti region. During that operation against illegal miners， more than 100 Chinese citizens were detained. In January this year， 41 illegal Chinese miners were detained by Ghanaian police.

Tiny Chinese mining companies did not， however， withdraw from Ghana， trusting in their networks of local connections and ignoring the changing political landscape， believing their “friends” in village councils and police stations would protect them.

In a previous interview with Bloomberg in 2012， Ghanaian Foreign Minister Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni was quoted as saying that in some areas， an “unholy alliance” between Chinese gold prospectors and local citizens was damaging the country’s economy and environment. The illegal mining “is affecting our environment in a very deleterious way and we need to work hard to stamp it out，” said Alhaji.

According to the Guardian newspaper， as has happened in other African states， illegal Chinese workers have come under fire in Ghana for taking local jobs， polluting lakes and rivers， and arming their security personnel with rifles in a bid to deter robbers.

Brigadier General Daniel Mishio， chairman of Ghana’s National Security Commission for Land and Natural Resources， complained to the media in April that due to Chinese mining activities， “people don’t even get clean drinking water， and in some areas you can see that most of the forest cover has been destroyed.”

Sharp Turn

On the morning of May 16， Meng Tianming was working on-site as usual when a friend called him to say that local newspapers had announced a government-led expulsion of all illegal gold miners. Although he could not read English， Meng had picked up hints of a coming storm from television reports in which the president had spoken out against illegal Chinese mining operations.

From the end of 2012， rumors about an impending government crackdown were circulating in Ghana’s Chinese communities， and sporadic robberies and looting began to be reported at some mining operations.

At the same time， Meng learned that the Shanglin County government had sent representatives to Ghana to negotiate with local officials. Meng believed the crisis would be resolved at the government level， perhaps with illegal mine bosses like himself being slapped with minor fines， as had happened before.

“Because we have signed contracts with the landowner， and we are their contractor， we might still be illegal immigrants， but we are not illegal miners，” Meng told our reporter.

On May 27， negotiations between the Shanglin county government and the Ghanaian government broke down. All illegal Chinese miners working in the country were advised to leave.

A Shanglin County official told NewsChina that their representatives had tried to persuade the Ghanaian government to give Chinese miners two months’ notice to leave Ghana， in order to allow them to wrap up their businesses and transfer them to Ghanaian ownership. However， with public opinion now firmly against illegal Chinese immigrant laborers， their request was rejected.

June 2， a total of 169 illegal Chinese immigrants were arrested or detained by police. Mines operated by Chinese in cities like Kumasi， Dunkwa and Obuasi were raided， and some were set on fire.

On June 4， Meng Tianming learned that his mine site near Kumasi had been razed by Ghanaian security forces， with all his equipment and electronic appliances looted.

“It’s a huge loss，” Meng said.

As of June 13， all Chinese nationals arrested during the crackdown had been released， however they are unlikely to return to their former workplaces in Ghana.

However， Shanglin County and its miners have become hooked on African gold， and few wish to remain in China when there might be opportunities in less hostile states.

“I’m good at nothing other than gold mining，” Meng told our reporter. “I have to go where the gold is. My next stop might be Cameroon or Zimbabwe.”