Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, has revealed the staggering potential financial scope of the anti-galamsey effort.
According to the Lands Minister, a comprehensive fight against illegal mining could cost the nation an estimated $10 billion.
The Lands minister is quoted by 3 news to have said, “The fight against galmsey could cost $10 billion”.
Some Ghanaians have reacted to the minister’s comments, saying, “That figure alone shows just how destructive galamsey has been, not only to our environment but to our economy. If we’d invested that $10 billion in industries, education, or agriculture instead, imagine where Ghana would be today. The fight must continue, but accountability and prevention must go hand in hand”.
Another netizen added, “OUR LIVES ARE WORTH MUCH MORE! WE SHOULD SPARE NO EFFORT. But also mobilise the community and they lead the fight against irresponsible small-scale mining”.
“10 billion what? How much is our entire budget? This is thievery”, a netizen added.
One more netizen added, “Like how? I don’t understand. Cancelling illegal mining and deploying already paid soldiers to the forest will cost what again? They have started”
“Oyiwa! Meanwhile Galamsey is more intense than it was in 2024 mainly because the government is buying all gold from Galamsey for exports.
The government is enabling Galamsey once they continue to buy gold from them. There’s no traceability in place for GOLDBOD purchases”, a Ghanaian stated.
Additionally, a netizen added, “More reason it makes no sense to focus on the livelihood of these criminals when discussing galamsey. Do you know how many legal jobs that money can create? It is infuriating when we use livelihood to defend why we are not treating these people as criminals, as they are”.
Meanwhile, Professor Kwesi Aning, a Security consultant, has claimed Italian mafia network is using Ghana’s illegal mining (galamsey) to clean their dirty money.
According to Professor Kwesi Aning, his research findings cite that the Italian mafia network is ceasing advantage of galamsey to launder money.
Speaking on JoyNewsFile on Saturday, October 11, 2025, Professor Kwesi Aning stated, “There are two studies, several studies, in fact. One shows that a group from Italy, the Italian mafia, brings in enough dirty money to buy gold. This is free consultancy for the national security and the financial intelligence agency; one Italian mafia group brings in dirty money to buy gold, takes it, sells it elsewhere, cleans the money, and takes it back to Europe.
That is number one,” he stated while answering a question on whether the security issues arising from illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, could lead to the terrorisation of Ghanaians or militia activities in the country”.
He added, “Number two, we know, and it is proven beyond doubt, that with the exception of Mali, Ghana is the second-largest gold-producing country, where the leakages are massive.
Now, I think Elikem might be able to tell us, but initial calculations show that about 2 to 2.5 billion dollars worth of illicit small-scale gold oozes out of the system every year.
This leads to organised criminal groups having an interest in ensuring that whatever NIAMOS is achieving right now will be resisted, and I can tell you that there is going to be resistance,” he added.
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The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has revealed the staggering potential financial scope of the anti-galamsey effort, stating that the comprehensive fight against illegal mining could cost the nation an estimated $10 billion.#3NewsGH #TV3GH pic.twitter.com/iiElSDeiBL
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) October 13, 2025