impacts of Chinese illegal mining on Wassa Adansi community

This woman is preparing herbal medicine with water from a polluted source
Wassa Adansi community is one of the communities in the Western Region of Ghana, West Africa, where residents are seriously at risk of life threatening effects of Chinese and local Ghanaian illegal miners. The small farming community with about five hundred residents is in a very remote area and lacks all the basic social amenities. With no other option the Ankobra River has been their only source of drinking water and also for other household chores for many years.

These days however, illegal mining by Chinese and some locals in the area has heavily polluted the river putting the residents at serious risk of water borne diseases.

woman preparing herbal medcine with water from polluted source

This woman is preparing herbal medicine with water from the Ankobra River

The miners also leave their pits uncovered and as the rainy season sets in farmers who have their farms close to the open pits are at risk of drowning.

farmer complaining of mining activities

This farmer tells me he cannot use the regular path to his farm because it has been destroyed by the illegal miners. According to him most of his farm crops were destroyed by the Chinese miners who claim to have acquired licenses from the government "they collude with the chief to destroy our crops because we a re poor".