Illegal small-scale mines in Ghana are an opportunity for poor Chinese immigrants, but are blamed for environmental destruction
By Afua Hirsch
The Guardian (UK)
Huang Ren Zhong’s striped parasol stands out against the muddy cliff of excavated earth. The horizon is fringed with the tall trees of the Ghanaian rainforest, but for Huang, this dilapidated shelter is his only shade from the sweltering tropical sun. He and his other Chinese colleagues take turns to sit under it, overseeing the digging and churning of the murky water beneath them, where they are mining a huge pit for gold.
Two years ago Huang, 40, left his tea farm in China’s Guangzhu province to seek riches here in west Africa. Since then his work has been hot and arduous, and at times dangerous but, by his standards, the rewards are great. Huang says he makes about 4,000 yuan — about £420 — per month. His salary is paid straight to his family in China, with the money he needs to live deducted first.
“The work is difficult. [But] I came here to make money,” said Huang. “In China I was average, or poor. To have the opportunity to travel abroad [and] make more money is fantastic.”