An investigation finds illegal miners inside a protected reserve, police allegedly collecting money at galamsey sites, and entire communities transformed by a lawless gold rush.
Illegal mining in Ghana’s Eastern Region is no longer operating from the shadows. It has become a brazen, organised economy — and its new frontier is the Atewa Forest.
A five-month undercover investigation by Save the Mining Communities-Ghana (SMC-Gh) has exposed how galamsey has not only surrounded the Atewa Forest Range, but has broken into it.
Between April and August 2026, researchers went undercover in seven fringe communities — Asamang Tamfoe, Akyem Ankaase, Pameng, Apampatia, Osino, Sagyimase and Kyebi. They interviewed 350 miners and 120 residents. What they documented is a crisis spiralling out of control.
The Forest Itself Is Being Mined
Atewa is not just another forest. It is one of West Africa’s most important biodiversity hotspots, home to rare species and the headwater of three major rivers — the Birim, Densu and Ayensu — that supply water to millions in Accra, Koforidua and beyond.
But SMC-Gh found miners carving pits and felling mature trees inside the reserve itself.
The report also points to a cross-border network. Many of those working the pits were not from the Eastern Region — they were migrants from Burkina Faso, Togo, Mali, Ivory Coast and Niger.
They get in with help from inside. According to miners interviewed, local middlemen who know the forest trails act as guides, escorting foreign crews into protected areas for a cut of the profits.
Police Present — Not to Arrest, But to Collect
The most explosive finding is the alleged role of security personnel.
In Sagyimase, Osino and Asamang Tamfoe, investigators said they saw police vehicles parked at active galamsey sites in broad daylight. The officers did not shut down the operations.
One miner told them:
“The presence of the police car is not a problem, they are friendly. They come for money and leave us to work in peace.”
If true, it exposes a fatal flaw in Ghana’s anti-galamsey architecture. SMC-Gh says the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), set up to crush galamsey, has made “no meaningful impact” in the seven communities studied.
A Lawless Parallel Economy
The gold rush has transformed these once-quiet farming towns. The investigators found beer bars, game centres and discotheques running deep into the night.
With it comes social decay. Residents reported rising theft, gang activity, teenage pregnancies and growing insecurity. The community’s social fabric, they said, is fraying under the weight of quick, unregulated cash.
A Global Treasure at Risk
The destruction of Atewa is not just a Ghanaian problem. Once a tropical rainforest of this kind is degraded beyond a tipping point, experts warn, restoration is nearly impossible. Soil is lost, water sources are silted and polluted with heavy metals, and unique habitats are fragmented forever.
The gold may shine for a season. The forest, if protected, sustains life for generations.
“The Government Has Woefully Failed”
Lead investigator Andrews Kwame Perprem is blunt about who is to blame.
“The government has woefully failed in the galamsey fight. Until the inhabitants of the mining communities agree to help fight galamsey, all strategies will fail,” he said.
Perprem says any new strategy must put chiefs at the centre — but also hold them accountable. His report alleges some traditional leaders are complicit, benefiting from the illegal economy.
His prescription:
1. Empower and hold chiefs accountable as custodians of the land
2. Let them lead education on the true long-term cost of galamsey
3. Drive alternative livelihoods — skills training, agriculture and enterprise — to break youth dependence on the pits.
For years Ghana has treated galamsey as an enforcement problem: arrests, seizures, task forces. The Atewa investigation shows it is now a development crisis — about unemployment, migration, weak governance and a global hunger for gold.
Ghana still has a window to save Atewa. But that window, like the forest itself, is closing fast.
