Illegal mining by Chinese nationals in Ghana must become a bilateral enforcement priority, Minerals Commission Chief Executive Officer Isaac Tandoh has said, warning that the actions of a “lawless minority” risk damaging a relationship built over more than six decades.
Speaking at the China-Ghana Mining Cooperation Conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, Mr Tandoh said the strength of the partnership would be judged not in boardrooms but in Ghana’s rivers, forest reserves and farmlands.
“Illegal small-scale mining has become an existential threat to our environment, our water bodies, and our national security. And in too many instances, Chinese nationals have been found at the centre of these illegal operations,” he said.
The conference was attended by Chief of Staff Dr Julius Debrah, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Cong Song, Ministers of State, President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines Fred Attakuma, CEO Dr Ken Ashigbey, industry leaders, traditional authorities and members of the media.
Mr Tandoh said Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, reserves small-scale mining licences exclusively for Ghanaian citizens.
“ That means any foreigner who undertakes small-scale mining commits an offence. The penalties include a prison term of twenty to twenty-five years, with deportation to follow the sentence,” he said.
The law also prohibits “fronting”, in which foreign interests use Ghanaians to obtain mineral rights. Mr Tandoh said several Chinese nationals had been arrested in operations targeting major rivers, including the Birim and the Tano.
He stressed, however, that the government valued Chinese participation in Ghana’s large-scale mining industry. Chinese companies, he said, had helped Ghana become Africa’s largest gold producer and the world’s sixth-largest.
He highlighted Zijin, Chifeng and Shandong as major Chinese mining groups operating in Ghana. Zijin, which took ownership of the Akyem mine a year ago, had increased production by 20% without adding to its workforce or upgrading infrastructure, he said. Shandong Gold’s Ghanaian operation, he added, was the best-performing mine in the group worldwide.
The Association of China-Ghana Mining now provides an institutional platform for discussions on responsible investment, compliance with regulations and sustainable development.
Mr Tandoh said the government had also designated blocked-out areas for law-abiding Ghanaian small-scale miners. It is additionally making provision for a medium-scale category that would allow Chinese and other foreign nationals without the capacity for large-scale operations to co-own up to a 40% stake in mining companies with Ghanaian partners.
“This is to ensure that while we protect the integrity of our bilateral relations, we also protect the credibility of our regulatory system for the future of our mining communities,” he said.
Three requests to Beijing
Mr Tandoh called on China to ensure the dual-enforcement framework agreed at the 2026 China Mining Conference was implemented without delay. Under the framework, offenders would face sanctions in Ghana and through Chinese authorities’ own systems for policing citizens abroad.
“This dual-enforcement pathway must be operationalised without delay, so that deportation is not a soft landing but a prelude to accountability,” he said.
He also urged China and Ghana to dismantle the financing and logistics networks supporting illegal mining, saying galamsey was organised, financed and equipped, with equipment, capital and supply chains sometimes originating outside Ghana.
Finally, he called for the Association of China-Ghana Mining to promote compliance rather than commerce alone by discouraging and reporting illegal activity by members and Chinese nationals operating in Ghana.
“A responsible association does not protect the lawlessness, it exposes them,” he said.
Mr Tandoh said the Minerals Commission would continue enforcing the law “without fear or favour” while working with investors committed to a transparent and sustainable mining industry.
“Ghana values China’s friendship too deeply to allow it to be undermined by the conduct of a lawless minority. And China’s own reputation as a responsible global investor is too valuable to be tarnished by the actions of those who operate outside the law,” he said.
“Illegal mining has no place in this partnership, and those who engage in it whatever their nationality must face the full weight of the law.”
He added: “Today, our communities want to see a China-Ghana partnership that brings prosperity, not pollution; that builds legal livelihoods, not criminal networks.”
