Ghana court jails and fines Chinese national over illegal gold mining

Agboado said he had asked the court to impose a fine and deport her instead of imposing prison time. He and Huang are still deciding whether to appeal, he said.

Libya dismantles illegal gold mining network comprising Chinese nationals

Ghana, a gold, oil and cocoa producer, is facing a scourge of illegal mining with Chinese nationals accused of leading some of the operations that have destroyed large areas of forest, polluted water bodies and sometimes encroached on the concessions of large-scale miners.

Ghana’s cocoa regulator COCOBOD told Reuters in September that around 150,000 metric tons of cocoa was lost due to smuggling and illegal gold mining, locally known as galamsey, on farmlands in the 2022/23 season.

Huang was known as the ‘Galamsey queen’ in the Ghanaian press.

Several Chinese nationals were brought to court for similar cases in Ghana in 2021 and 2022.