Ghanaian gold – resolving conflict over mining rights

Prestea in southwest Ghana has been an important gold mining area for more than 100 years. Local people have worked as small-scale miners and as employees of large companies. However, there is now conflict between miners, mining companies and the government over the rights to mine some of the land.

In 2001, a new company tookover the mining concession and decided it was not economically viable to mine alarge underground section of land. This left 3,000 local people unemployed. In2005, there were violent clashes between miners and the army. Researchers fromthe University of Manchester in the UK interviewed representatives from allsides to find solutions to these tensions.

Local people feel they shouldhave legal access to mining areas that the company does not use. They have noalternative way to make a living and there is no other employment in the area.They want to register as legal small-scale miners on unused portions ofconcession land. Although they mine unused areas, government officials stillsee them as dangerous criminals who need to be moved.

The company that owns theconcession argues that it bought the rights to this land and that the illegal minersare thieves. The company feels the responsibility for negotiating lies with thegovernment, not with it.

Many government officials thinkillegal miners should be removed by force. They are therefore unwilling to talkwith them. However, a few members of central government have recognised thatpoverty and unemployment leave illegal miners with few choices.

Some solutions have beenattempted:

• The governmentand the mining company have tried to relocate illegal miners. The governmentidentified areas to move them to but did so without consultation. Furthermore, theydid not examine the resources in new areas or consider the complex logistics ofmoving 10,000 people.
• Attempts to providealternative sources of income were inappropriate. They did not match existingskills or consider the market for new products. For example, batik making waspromoted, but there is no way to get products to a suitable market.

High unemployment and povertymeans local people have little alternative but to continue mining areasillegally. The researchers suggest a number of ways to break through thecurrent deadlock in negotiations:

• Local governmentofficials must talk to miners’ representatives. They should then bring minerstogether with the company to discuss possible solutions.
• The governmentand the mining company must work with the community to identify realisticalternatives to small-scale mining. Another company in the area has helpedpeople to develop fish and cocoa farms, which feed an existing market and cangenerate high incomes.
• The governmentshould encourage banks to provide start-up funds and financial support for newsmall-scale ventures.
• Rather thanattempting relocation, the government should pressurise the mining company torelease unused portions of its concession, allowing miners to legally registerthere.