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Assignment: The Obuasi Stand-Off | RTÉ Radio 1 Extra

Monday 16th May 2016 at 4.30pm – Assignment: The Obuasi Stand-Off

Ed Butler travels to the heart of Ghana’s gold mining belt to investigate troubles at one of the country’s biggest gold mines.

Dozens of illegal miners have occupied the Obuasi gold mine in Ghana, excavating the gold for their own profit. It’s symptomatic of a wider collapse in industrial gold-mining in the country, and the rise of do-it-yourself alternatives, as ordinary villagers with diggers excavate pits in the jungle, hoping to strike it rich. Some have called it the ‘Wild West’, and it’s hurting not just the local environment, but it’s also undermining much-needed national revenues as the illegal mining leads to a rise in gold smuggling.

Ed Butler travels to the heart of Ghana’s gold mining belt to investigate troubles at one of the country’s biggest gold mines.

Dozens of illegal miners have occupied the Obuasi gold mine in Ghana, excavating the gold for their own profit. It’s symptomatic of a wider collapse in industrial gold-mining in the country, and the rise of do-it-yourself alternatives, as ordinary villagers with diggers excavate pits in the jungle, hoping to strike it rich. Some have called it the ‘Wild West’, and it’s hurting not just the local environment, but it’s also undermining much-needed national revenues as the illegal mining leads to a rise in gold smuggling.