The data said Ghana exported 158 tonnes of gold in 2018, about 15 per cent increase over the previous year. Ghana has thus dethroned South Africa and returned to the high volumes of the 1980s.

Mining firms operating in the country include Newmont Mining Corporation, Gold Fields, Anglogold Ashanti and Asanko Gold.

Rural communities in four regions of Ghana, currently affected by the environmental damage and pollution associated with destructive artisanal mining and logging practices, are to benefit from a scale-up of the Ghana Forest Investment Programme.

World Bank grant

The World Bank has approved an additional financing of US$19.39 million to the programme.

The programme is already implementing activities focusing on agricultural drivers of deforestation by working with cocoa farmers and communities to rehabilitate and protect forest reserves.

The additional financing operation aims at complementing these activities by piloting approaches to and benefits of reclamation of mining sites, which will reduce erosion currently polluting public watercourses and engage the private sector in plantation development to reduce pressure on natural forests.