Ghanaian government bans mining in forest reserves.

The Ghanaian Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology has re-imposed a ban on small-scale mining in forest reserves in order to halt deforestation and protect natural water bodies. Ghana is Africa's largest producer of gold, but, as in many other countries, much of the gold is extracted by large companies, who contribute to the national revenue but employ a relatively low number of workers, leading to the impression amongst much of the population that they are not benefiting from the industry. Since a large section of the Ghanaian population lacks formal employment, being dependent on subsistence farming, fishing, or 'hustling' (participation in the informal economy), this can be a matter of contention, and has led to frequent raids on mining concessions by informal, artisanal miners.

Damage caused by an illegal mining camp in the Neung Forest Reserve in Ghana's Western Region. Festus Randy Jackson-Davis/Pan African Visions.

In an effort to combat this, in 2022 the Ghanaian Government introduced the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, which allowed small scale mining in forest reserves, under a permit system. However, three years on, widespread, and unregulated, artisanal mining is reported to have led to environmental damage in 13 of the 16 regions of Ghana, in places threatening waterways vital for the country's Cocoa crops, while mining companies still report incursions onto their property. This in turn has led to a campaign by environmental groups in the country to reimpose the banning of mining in these areas.

The Ghanaian authorities plan to unveil a new, more tightly controlled system of permits for small-scale mines in the country, in line with the system of timber licensing it introduced earlier this year. It remains to be seen, however, how well the government will be able to enforce these new regulations, and to what extent they will be accepted by sections of the population with few other options for income generation.

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Two teenagers killed in collapse at Sierra Leone gold mine.

Two teenagers have died in a pit collapse at an artisanal mine in Eastern Province, Sierra Leone. Mohamed Bangura (16) and Yahyah Janneh (17), from the village of Nyimbadu, had skipped school to work at the mine, one of the few ways to own a cash income in the remote village. Yahyah Janneh's mother, Namina, admits to having encouraged her son to mine gold, as a widow needing the extra income to help support her other children, but says that she would not have wanted him to go to the pit where he was killed, as this was known to be dangerous.

Yahyah Janneh (17), killed in a mine collapse in Eastern Province, Sierra Leone, in December 2025. Namina Jenneh/BBC.

The incident comes at the height of the West African rainy season, which often causes problems in Sierra Leone. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. However the situation has been made worse in Sierra Leone since the civil war of the 1990s, since when the country has effectively been bankrupt and unable to invest in maintenance of roads or infrastructure, despite being one of the most mineral rich countries of Africa.

The government of Sierra Leone has made the decision to invest heavily in education, seeing it as a way to provide people with a means to improve their own situations, and of creating a workforce able to help address the country's many problems. It currently spends about 8.9% of GDP on education, compared to an average of about 3.5% of GDP across the West and Central Africa regions, 5.59% in the US, 4.1% in the UK, and 4.7% in the EU. However, because of Sierra Leone's low GDP, this does mean that the amount spent on education per child is lower than in many African countries. Sierra Leone spent 34% of its domestic budget on education and 52.41% on debt servicing in 2023, the last year for which statistics are available.

Keeping children in school presents an additional challenge; many rural communities in Sierra Leone are dependent on subsistence farming, which provides little or no cash income, while working in artisanal mines can produce an income of around US$3.50 per week (less than half the theoretical minimum wage for Sierra Leone), with the potential for occasional bonanzas producing tens of dollars at a time. Against this background, many children (and some teachers) chose to skip school to work in minefields, repeating the country's cycle of poor educational achievement and subsequent low incomes.

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Flood at Venezuelan mine kills fourteen miners.

Fourteen miners are believed to have died in a flood at a the Cuatro Easquinas Gold Mine in El Callao in Venezuela on Sunday 11 October 2025. The event has been associated with heavy rains in the area, with local media reporting six hours of rain before the collapse, and caused the main shaft of the mine to collapse, trapping miners in three underground shafts. One miner who escaped reported a 'volcano of water' erupting in the mine, which suggests an underground breach from a flooded deposit. Rescue workers were forced to pump water out of the mine before entering, finding no survivors who had not escaped immediately.

Water being pumped from a mine in El Callao, Venezuela, following a flood on 12 October 2025. AP.

Gold mining is a major industry in Venezuela, but the sector is also notoriously lawless and exploitative, with few safety precautions in place in many mines, and miners often poorly paid and poorly educated. Rumours of forced labour are common, and attempts by law enforcement agencies to impose some order on the sector have been met with resistance, with many mines controlled by politicians, criminal groups, and even militants from neighbouring Colombia. From 2018 to 2023, and then from 2024 onwards, the US has placed an embargo on gold exports from Venezuela, as part of a wider set of economic sanctions against the country. However, this has led to further criminalisation of the sector, with production rates unaltered and a lucrative industry smuggling gold through other nations springing up.

Venezuela has a wet tropical climate with a rainy season that lasts from April 20 November, and flooding and other rainfall-related events are not uncommon. A warming global climate is leading to higher rainfall levels, with flooding and landslides becoming more common, placing strain on the country's already weak infrastructure. 

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Thirteen confirmed deaths and many more missing following collapse at gold mine in Zamfara State, Nigeria.

Thirteen people have been confirmed dead and as many as a hundred more may be trapped underground following a collapse at an artisanal gold mine (gold mine dug with traditional hand tools) at the village of Kadauri in Zamfara State, Nigeria, on Thursday 25 September 2025. Fifteen miners have been pulled from the mine alive since the incident, five of whom are reported to be suffering from a variety of injuries. The incident is thought to have been caused by heavy rains associated with the end of the West African Rainy Season, which can cause sediments to liquefy, destabilising mine pits.

The approximate location of the Kadauri Gold Mine. Google Maps.

West Africa has a distinct two season climatic cycle, with a cool dry season during the northern winter when prevalent winds blow from the Sahara to the northeast, and a warm rainy season during the northern summer when prevalent winds blow from the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. These warm winds from the Atlantic are laden with moisture, which can be lost rapidly when the air encounters cooler conditions, such as when it is pushed up to higher altitudes by the Jos Plateau of central Nigeria and Shebshi Mountains on the border with Cameroon.

Rainfall and prevalent winds during the West African dry and rainy seasons. Encyclopaedia Britanica.

Informal artisanal mining is common in many parts of Africa, including Nigeria, which like may other countries has granted concessions to mining companies in areas where small-scale artisanal mining has traditionally helped to supplement the incomes of subsistence farmers. However, little of the money from such projects tends to reach local communities, which often leads to ill feeling and attempts to continue mining clandestinely, often at night or under other unfavourable conditions, which can put the miners at greater risk.

This is particularly problematic in areas such as Zamfara State, which has been badly impacted by the current political instability in the Sahel Region, with militias and bandit groups from both Nigeria and neighbouring states thought to be active in the region. These groups tend to see locally produced gold as a resource with which to fund their campaigns, leading to clashes between local and outside miners, some miners being forced to work in slave-like conditions to satisfy the demands of militia groups, and a general decline in safety in and around mines. Gold mines in Zamfara are also known to contain unusually high levels of lead, which has led to incidents of lead poisoning among miners and mining communities.

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Ten miners confirmed dead, and a further ten missing following landslide in West Papua Province, Indonesia.

The bodies of ten miners have been recovered, and further ten are missing, following a landslide in the remote Arfak Mountains of West Papua Province, Indonesia, following a landslide on Friday16 may 2025. The landslide, which occurred at about 9.00pm, and is believed to have been triggered by heavy rains associated with the onset of the southwest monsoon, and struck a camp being used by artisanal gold miners. A further four miners were injured by the event, and rescue efforts are being hampered by the remote location of the site, which is ten hours travel from the nearest town, and ongoing heavy rains in the area.

Rescue workers battling floodwaters while recovering a body from a mining camp hit by a landslide in the emote Arfak Mountains of West Papua Province, Indonesia, on 16 May 2025. Indonesia Search and Rescue Agency/AFP).

Indonesia's large size, mineral richness, and poor population make unlicensed mining a widespread problem in the country, with illegal mines typically dug with hand tools and located in remote locations where authorities are unlikely to spot them (though some such operations are larger and more blatant in nature). Such mines tend to take few health and safety precautions, and are often dug by people with only a limited understanding of the structural geology of the area, making accidents extremely common, in many cases without help ever arriving due to the hidden nature of the mines. Such mines also present an environmental threat, producing waste which is often toxic, and contributing to deforestation, which can destabilise hillslopes, placing the miners at further risk.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry seasons, the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

West Papua has two distinct Monsoon Seasons, with a Northeast Monsoon driven by winds from the South China Sea that lasts from November to February and a Southwest Monsoon driven by winds from the southern Indian Ocean from March to October. Such a double Monsoon Season is common close to the equator, where the Sun is highest overhead around the equinoxes and lowest on the horizons around the solstices, making the solstices the coolest part of the year and the equinoxes the hottest.

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