How gold mining destroys nature and livelihoods in Ghana

Illegal mining in Ghana How gold mining destroys nature and livelihoods As of: October 26, 2026 • 7:13 a.m

In Ghana, gold is mined under extreme conditions - cocoa plantations also have to make way for this. With devastating consequences: What remains are destroyed landscapes and dirty, polluted rivers.

Huge holes gape in the ground, in the middle of the rainforest. In it, people stand knee-deep in mud and dig. Gold is mined in Ghana under extreme conditions. This means that cocoa plantations have to give way. Tropical rainforests and protected forest areas are being cleared, as research by Y-Kollektiv in cooperation with the ARD climate editorial team shows.

In Ghana, gold is mined both by large licensed companies and illegally. Many people go looking for gold in the hope of making quick money, but the risk is extremely high.

Many of them had previously worked in cocoa farming. They are offered large sums of money for land and arable land in order to search for gold. “Illegal gold mining is destroying cocoa cultivation, gold diggers are coming to our farms, clearing the cocoa trees to look for gold underneath,” says cocoa farmer Edwin Ntaah.

Huge holes are dug into the ground in Ghana's rainforest to search for gold.

If a cocoa farm becomes a gold mine, the ecosystem is destroyed and the farmers' livelihoods are lost. Important CO2 stores are lost. Like all trees, cacao trees carry out photosynthesis. So they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store the carbon in their biomass. They release the oxygen back into the atmosphere.

Many cocoa plantations and even tropical rainforests are cleared for gold mining, so less CO2 is bound. But even where there are still plantations and fields, the effects of illegal gold mining are noticeable.

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Edwin Ntaah's family makes a living from growing cocoa. How many families. Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world. Ntaah is 22 years old. In an interview with Y-Kollektiv, he says: They were also offered a lot of money for their cocoa farm by people who wanted to illegally mine gold there. Instead of cocoa trees, there would have been a large pit in the middle of the rainforest - an illegal gold mine. But Ntaah's family has decided to keep their farm.

Even seeing surrounding farms being cleared scares the young cocoa farmer. "I'm worried about Ghana's future. We're losing more and more land to illegal gold mining. And we don't know when it will finally stop," said Ntaah.

A river flows right next to Ntaah's family farm. They used to use the water to irrigate the cocoa trees. To do this, the Ntaah family now has to bring water to the farm. He says: "It's very time-consuming, but it's the only option because the river is full of dirt and chemicals."

Gold mining in the middle of the rainforest destroys ecosystems and the livelihoods of many people.

Water is pumped from the rivers into the mines via hoses and pipes. The earth is removed with a strong jet of water. Mines often collapse and deaths are repeatedly reported in the Ghanaian media.

The mud is passed over a kind of slide. It is lined with mats in which the finer part of the mud gets stuck - a small fraction of it is gold. The water is then returned to the river, much dirtier than before: it contains fine suspended particles and sediment.

The Ghanaian scientist Dr. Evans Manu researches water supply in Ghana for the TU Darmstadt. Over the last ten years he has observed that more and more rivers have been polluted by illegal gold mining. In an interview with the ARD climate editorial team, he explains: "Ghana's next water crisis will be underground: more and more polluted water from the surface is reaching the groundwater."

The main reason for the heavy pollution: Mercury is mostly used for illegal gold mining. The heavy metal acts like a kind of magnet, attracting the gold dust and separating it from dirt. The mercury-gold lumps are then heated. The pure gold remains, the mercury escapes unfiltered into the environment.

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An additional problem for rivers: global warming is causing the water temperature to rise, thereby reducing the oxygen content. In the long term there could even be problems with the drinking water supply. Ghana's state water utility says the country may need to import drinking water in the coming years.

The gold rush scares cocoa farmer Ntaah. He wants to continue growing cocoa and later take over his parents' farm. It should not become the next mud pit in which people search for gold.

The documentary “Y-Kollektiv - Tödliches Gold” is available in the ARD media library.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Y Collective: Deadly Gold | Oct 26, 2026 | 07:12 am