Ghana Minerals Commission Warns Illegal Foreign Miners Face 20 to 25 Years, Urges China to Enforce Accountability at Home
Isaac Tandoh, chief executive of Ghana's Minerals Commission, said on November 10 at the China-Ghana Mining Cooperation Conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra that foreign nationals who engage in illegal small-scale mining in Ghana risk between 20 and 25 years' imprisonment followed by deportation, and he urged the Chinese government to treat illegal mining by its nationals as a priority bilateral enforcement issue under a dual accountability framework.
Tandoh said Ghana's Minerals and Mining Act reserves small-scale mining licences exclusively for Ghanaian citizens. Enforcement operations have arrested several Chinese nationals along the Birim and Tano river systems as authorities move to dismantle the financial, logistical and operational networks behind illegal mining, known locally as galamsey. He insisted that deportation must never become an escape route from accountability: under a framework discussed at the 2026 China Mining Conference, Chinese nationals who violate Ghanaian mining laws could face consequences under Chinese regulatory and enforcement mechanisms as well, and he called for the framework to be operationalised without delay.
China's ambassador to Ghana, Cong Song, attended the conference alongside Ghanaian officials, mining investors and traditional authorities. Tandoh also challenged the Association of China Ghana Mining to take greater responsibility for compliance among its members and the wider Chinese mining community in Ghana.
Source: Ghana Minerals Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加纳非法小规模采矿（galamsey）作业现场（资料图）。图：Crosstemplejay，CC BY-SA 4.0，经维基共享资源 / An illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) site in Ghana (file photo). Photo by Crosstemplejay, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
