Illegal mining can be defined as any mining activity which is undertaken without the permission of the state. It is popularly referred to as “Galamsey” in Ghana and the illegal miners who engage in this practice are locally referred to as “Galamseyers”. These “Galamseyers” mainly engage in illegal mining because they are poor and they need the money to survive. Most of these illegal miners are foreigners who travel from neighbouring West African countries such as Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Ivory Coast or from other continents such as Asia, the Americas and Europe particularly China and Russia into the country.

Figure 1   Data from Ghana's Minerals Commission reveal that small-scale miners produced over one million ounces of gold (1,031,179) in 2015

According to the 2016 final report of the International Growth Center, the process of Galamsey normally includes the dredging of water bodies for gold or the digging of underground mines to extract ore which is then mixed with water and mercury to attract the gold particle from the ore. It is no secret that these practices adopted by illegal miners are destroying not only the quality of the natural resources from which they extract their gold and other precious minerals but also the lives of innocent citizens who depend on these natural resources.

Figure 2 Women in the Ghanaian Town of Abosso.Galamsey offers far more financially. A great incetive for many people to forego the risks in pursuit of a better life Credits: myjoyonline.com

Water bodies are the central natural resource that are constantly being polluted and destroyed by the activities of illegal mining. In recent times, many research papers and news articles in the country have reported on how illegal mining is destroying the main water bodies in the country. One of such is a research report entitled “Assessing the social and environmental impacts of illegal mining operations in River Bonsa”, which describes in vivid and frightening detail how the quantity of water produced by the production plant in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Area, where the River Bonsa is located, has drastically reduced as a result of the effects of illegal mining. The research report goes on to disclose how the people living within that area are suffering from various diseases and economic hardship because of the activities of illegal miners, who only care for their profit and not the general well-being of all.

“Galamsey” does not only destroy the natural resources of this country but it also causes a ripple effect which affects the food production of this country. According to the 2016 Journal of Food Security, “By degrading arable lands, contaminating water bodies, polluting the air, shifting labour from food crop farming to mining and displacing farmers, galamsey by surface mining is largely responsible for the low food production, food price spikes and the high cost of living, especially in galamsey-prone regions of Ghana.”

Figure 3   Illegal Miners in Obuasi The pressures on the environment increase, along with potenital physical harm, as these miners are exposed dangerous toxins, cave-ins etc

Even though “Galamsey” appears to be a lucrative venture, it kills many people every year and by so doing, it robs the nation of potent manpower that could have been useful in contributing to the development and growth of our dear nation. Moreover the method used by galamseyers results in the liberation a maximum of 50% of gold hence for high production and clean means of production calls for innovative techniques of recovering gold from the earth crust. A method which we deem an exact emulation of nature at the micro level is Bio-mining. Bio-mining is the biological process of extracting mineral resources from ores using special microorganisms. These special micro-organisms are known to be sulphur oxidizing bacteria; T. ferrooxidans and Acidiothibaccillus. The process of bio-mining sometime requires processes like bioleaching; a method of using microorganism to solubilize metals or minerals from the ore. Though bioleaching is not a new technology in Ghana, Ashanti Gold mined has the biggest bioleaching plant in Africa, we present a new developed microorganisms to liberate and quantify the gold from the ore. Most of the existing microorganisms used in base process use ferrous iron in addition to reduced sulphur compounds as donors of electrons and fix carbon dioxide. Other methods of gold extraction in which bio-mining has a great potentials is when used to ensure more than 60% extraction of in ores resistant to cyanide. Bio-mining is not only economically efficient but also a green technology for mineral extraction as it produces no gas emissions. Among the recent issues in Ghana is the public outcry on the rate of pollution of water bodies due to the activities on the illegal mining activities in the country.

Figure 4   Whole-cell model for Acidithiobacillus Ferrooxidans

Galamsey poses less of a threat to the economy and Ghana, once the activities are made environmentally friendly. This research project is thus aimed at alleviating the damage being caused by Galamseyers. We do this by introduce a new technique of quantifying the amount of gold in various gold ores. Gold detection and quantification using bacterial provide a cost effective means of mining gold and more importantly presents a new era of green methods of gold extraction. Our innovation will avoid the destruction of land in the activities of Galamasey because they can be able clear the uncertainities involved in the minerals exploration. Through the incorporation of florescence proteins in the biomining process, miners will be able to identify filed good for the mining. In the near future, we hope through bioming we will be able to purify water bodies by using microorganism to extract different kind metal from them while not interfering with metals vital to the soil.