An Assessment Of An Environmental Problem In Ghana

The extraction of gold releases arsenic trioxide, sulphur dioxide, and cyanide into the environment. Mercury, a heavy metal, is also introduced by small scale illegal miners for gold extraction. The use and management of cyanide and mercury in the process of gold mining is a practice about which many environmental scientists and economists continue to raise concerns, especially given that, whatever is used in the extraction of gold either stays as revenue, real gold etc. or returns to the environment as harmful waste substance (treating the earth as a closed system). Galamsey is an important economic activity which has the potential of contributing to the development of areas endowed with the resources. However, communities with galamsey operations suffer high rates of environmental pollution. To this effect, fingers are quickly pointed at galamsey operators as the cause of the environmental problems in their operational areas.
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