Chinese Still Illegally Mining Gold in Ghana

Illegal aliens from China have been mining gold in Ghana for some time. From 2019: SCMP: Dig for gold in Ghana at your own risk, Chinese miners warned after arrests

Chinese citizens who work at gold mines in Ghana will not be protected by their home country if they get snared in a crackdown on illegal mining, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned after some Chinese nationals were detained for working in the African nation.

Although Ghana allows licensed companies to do small-scale gold mining, “it’s still illegal for foreigners” to work in the sector, “and they will not be protected by Ghanaian laws”, the ministry said on Monday on the Chinese social media app WeChat.

Some Chinese citizens had been detained “in recent days” for working at Ghanaian gold mines illegally, it said, without providing details.

iFeng: 中国人的非洲淘金梦：或身家上亿，或埋骨他乡

Although Ghana is already in recession, the myth of getting rich overnight in Ghana still attracts people from Shanglin to this African country.

In order to mine gold in Ghana, most people in Shanglin choose to borrow money domestically. Because these loans are not a small sum, and the gold rush environment in Ghana is getting worse and worse, many people cannot pay off their loans in time. Some people take the risk and go to the casino to gamble their luck, and the result is ten bets and nine loses.

Lu Silin, who died in the Ghana shooting in 2018, made almost no money in Ghana for ten years, and his family still faces more than 200,000 debts. His daughter revealed that "Father only came back once in 2013. Because he couldn't make money, he felt ashamed of his family and had something to do with debt."

In fact, after the people of Shanglin retired to Ghana in 2013, they learned the lesson of the fiasco of the "guerrillas" and linked or cooperated with companies with mining licenses to mine sand gold. The relative investment scale of this type of people has decreased. Companies required by the government to open companies have residence permits, work visas, prospecting permits, mining permits, etc., which are legal mining.

However, according to laws and regulations, their overseas investment and labor channels are illegal.

In the event of an emergency such as a shooting, the illegal identity will be exposed. "Workers cannot continue, and investment is lost."

This is the predicament of Shanglin people in Ghana.

If you stay, you may not make any money; if you leave, you are a little unwilling.

Many Shanglin people still continue to go to Ghana.

Their reasons are similar, "There, I heard that fellow villagers have been mining gold mines. No one knows what is going on. Let's try your luck."

Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic this year, since March 22, Ghana has closed off passenger transport across the border by sea, land and air. The increasing number of confirmed cases and the poor medical conditions in Ghana have made the people in Shanglin who are stranded there worry.

"Although the price of gold has skyrocketed recently, I still want to return to China as soon as possible," said Li Jian (a pseudonym) from Shanglin in Ghana reluctantly. ".