Immigration officials in Ghana have said that at least 124 Chinese illegal miners have been arrested for engaging in small scale mining.

The Chinese illegal miners were arrested in various locations in Ghana including the Ashanti, Western, Central and the Eastern regions of Ghana in a special operation by the security service.

Laws governing mining in Ghana strictly prohibits foreigners from engaging in small scale mining in the country. Small scale mining is sole reserved for the local people to help them develop their initiatives in the transformation of the mining sector and as a source of employment.

Immigration officials confirmed that most of those arrested were mining illegally without visas, work and residency permits and that they are being currently held in detention at the Immigration Headquarters in the capital Accra.

The Chinese embassy spokesman in Ghana Yu Jie confirmed to reporters that such an arrest has taken place and that they are negotiating with the Ghanaian government for their release and repatriation back to China.

He added further that they have already cautioned all Chinese nationals in Ghana to strictly abide by the related laws and regulations in Ghana.

But he however failed to give further details about how they managed to arrive in Ghana without proper documentation.

This arrest is part of an ongoing crackdown on foreign nationals working in small-scale gold mines especially Chinese nationals. The Chinese nationals have turned Ghana into their province engaging in all forms of illegalities thereby prompting nationwide out cry of the activities of these Chinese in Ghana.

In October last year, a Chinese boy was killed during a security crackdown on an illegal mining amid violent clashes between the Chinese nationals and the indigenous people living in the gold deposit areas in Ghana.

Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Inusah Fuseni has given a stern warning to foreign nationals who engage in these small scales mining to desist from it or face the wrath of the government.

“We have warned all nationals engaging in these illegal mining to desist from it, this government is ever ready to flush them out because they are destroying our lands and I hope that the immigration service will cooperate with us’’, Mr. Fuseni said on Good Morning Ghana, on the Metropolitan Television Network.

Most Chinese workers flock to Ghana in search of gold in a very rush way with the assistance of some unscrupulous local people aiding and abetting their activities.

Most of them are from impoverished county of Shanglin in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with the hope that their fortunes will change as a result of the gold deposit they imagine in Ghana.

Ghana is believed to be Africa’s biggest gold producer after South Africa, producing more than 1.6 million ounces in the first half of 2012, according to official figures on the international market.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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