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Ghana: Illegal gold poisons land and global supply chains
As its price reaches record highs, fueled by geopolitical chaos, the gold production chain remains more opaque than ever. Between money laundering, black markets and the mixing of gold as soon as it leaves the mines, there is no way of knowing exactly where the gold melted into ingots originates. This is how gold extracted from illegal mines in Ghana, which have devastated forests and rivers, finds its way into the global circuit. Forbidden Stories’ investigation, in partnership with The Fourth Estate and The Reporters’ Collective, shows that dubious Ghanaian gold may be entering the supply chains of some of the world’s largest companies, including Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks and Xerox.
(Credit: Alexander Abdelilah / Forbidden Stories)
- Artisanal gold in Ghana is often mined illegally, causing widespread environmental destruction and attracting organized crime.
- The heavy metals used in artisanal gold production contaminate the soil, water and crops, exposing Ghanaians to serious health problems.
- This high-risk gold is likely to end up in the supply chains of major global brands such as Starbucks, Amazon, Tesla and Xerox, according to their own corporate records. Amazon and Starbucks have announced internal investigations following Forbidden Stories’ revelations.
By Alexander Abdelilah
Additional reporting by Anouk Aflalo Doré
October 24, 2025
In the eyes of investors, gold is shining brighter than ever. Boosted by geopolitical tensions, the precious metal continues to break its own records, recently exceeding a price of $4,000 — more than 3,400 euros — per ounce. A lesser-known player in the global gold rush, Ghana intends to take advantage of this windfall.
The largest producer in Africa and sixth-largest globally, the country boasts centuries of gold mining tradition and a stable political regime. However, the exponential growth of illegal gold mining is tarnishing the positive image of its gold and fueling turmoil among Ghanaians — so much so that many journalists have been attacked for daring to investigate the thriving black market. It’s a dangerous job, and one Forbidden Stories chose to pursue on the ground. From contaminated land and polluted rivers to nature reserves seized by armed groups, the gold rush is leaving destruction in its wake.
Excavators in an illegal mine in Manso Nkwanta, February 2024 (Credit: Mark Asamoah).
In the heart of the former Ashanti kingdom, in the southwest of the country, gold is seen as the earthly counterpart of the sun. Since the seventh century, this revered resource has been extracted from the fertile land lining the many rivers that crisscross the area’s tropical forest.
On the outskirts of Kumasi, a major city that has become a key transit point for the region’s gold, a wooden shack stands concealed in the yard of a large house, blocked off by a tall, unmarked black gate. It was there that Forbidden Stories met with Jacob* on a sweltering July day.
Jacob, a man with sharp features, had come alone and agreed to speak only on the condition that his identity was protected, like many others during this investigation.The shack is one of the countless gold refineries in the region. In the pocket of his worn trousers, Jacob carried raw gold wrapped in a plastic bag. An employee torched the gold, then mixed it with chemicals to remove impurities. After a few minutes, Jacob was holding a nugget in his hand.
Raw gold from an illegal mine is melted in a refinery in Kumasi (Credit: Alexander Abdelilah / Forbidden Stories)
“This gold represents five days of work,” he said with a broad smile, rolling the precious metal between his fingers. It’s a small boon to his wallet: in mid-July, it was worth nearly 1,400 euros — more than two months’ average salary in Ghana. “I’ve been moving from site to site since 2006 to look for gold, and I have six miners working for me right now,” Jacob explained, acknowledging that he operates entirely illegally. “I haven’t applied for a mining license — it’s impossible to get one,” he said.
Officially, the licence is mandatory to extract gold. To make matters worse, the owner of the refinery where Jacob is located is a prominent local figure in the gold sector, who publicly champions gold traceability. No one here is surprised by this contradiction — legal and illegal gold are mixed from the moment they leave the mines.
“A Deadly Cocktail of Pollutants”
A two-hour drive down a dirt road southwest of Kumasi leads to Manso Nkwanta, a town where conflicts of interest in the gold industry are on full display. Owen*, a tall man with a deep voice, works for the Amansie West District Assembly. He showed Forbidden Stories an illegal mine that had sprung up on the edge of the village.
“There was a house here, where the mine now is, and the forest came all the way to here,” he said, pointing to the muddy ground beneath his feet, his gaze sweeping across the mine, which measures over 600 meters wide and two kilometers long. In place of trees, a string of trenches, some filled with water, now riddles the red soil, connected by paths made for heavy machinery.
Mercury used in a refinery in Kumasi to process raw gold (Credit: Alexander Abdelilah / Forbidden Stories)
An illegal gold mine in Manso Nkwanta (Credit: Alexander Abdelilah / Forbidden Stories)
Despite the ravaged landscape, Owen sees the glass half full. Gold mining operations, legal and illegal, contribute nearly 140,000 euros per year to the district council’s budget, thanks to a tax levied on the 500 or so excavators essential to the activity.
This blurring of lines between legal and illegal mining operations and their revenues has become normalized in the Ashanti region. On the road leading out of the village, several real estate projects funded by illegal miners are evidence of money laundering in the area. “Miners are investing their money in the local community, building hotels, apartments and schools,” Owen said. The district assembly didn’t respond to Forbidden Stories’ questions about the use of these partially illegal revenues.
Gold miners at the illegal Manso Nkwanta mine, February 2024 (Credit: Mark Asamoah).
The mines have scarred the landscape, but they also poison the earth. In the epicenter of gold production, where we went, pollution from mining has reached alarming levels. A lethal mix of mercury, arsenic and lead contaminates the soil, water, air, fish and crops, posing “serious health and environmental risks” and requiring “urgent need for remediation and regulatory action,” according to a study published in September 2025 by the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Authority.
Arsenic levels in the soil exceed recommended limits by a whopping 4,265 percent. On the ground, 70 percent of villagers living near mines consume surface water contaminated with toxic substances. Gold miners and community residents are at risk of suffering from kidney problems, respiratory illnesses and metabolic disorders.
“All these heavy metals going into our rivers are being accumulated in the fish we eat and the water we use to irrigate our vegetables and our food crops,” said Daryl Bosu from the environmental NGO A Rocha Ghana. “In 10 to 15 years, I’m afraid we might not have any forests left intact.”
“If you think you can get 100 percent clean gold, you’ve failed before you’ve begun”
But the profits from artisanal mining — which is very often illegal, with satellite image analysis showing that over 75 percent of mines of this kind are located outside zones authorized by the Ghanaian state — are not just used to construct a few buildings in rural Ghana at the expense of the environment. Forbidden Stories’ investigation shows it could also enter the supply chains of major international corporations through one of the key players in Ghana’s gold industry.
Getting into Gold Coast Refinery, located next to the runways of Kotoka International Airport in Ghana’s capital of Accra, means going through multiple security checks and surrendering all electronic devices at the gate. In the parking lot, several armored vans await upcoming gold deliveries. This refinery, which brands itself as “the second-largest in Africa,” relies on Ghanaian artisanal gold.
It is owned by Said Deraz, an Egyptian businessman who heads Euroget Group, a company active in both financial consulting and hospital construction. In a 2022 interview published on the website of the Responsible Jewellery Council, an international body representing major jewelry and watch producers, Deraz made no attempt to hide this link. “We will accelerate our engagement upstream with artisanal and small-scale miners we source from to develop a robust, responsible and traceable supply chain that has a positive impact on the mining communities,” he said. When contacted, neither Gold Coast Refinery nor the Euroget Group responded to Forbidden Stories’ requests for comment.
The headquarters of Gold Coast Refinery in Accra (Credit: Alexander Abdelilah / Forbidden Stories)
Ghanaian nuggets don’t enjoy a great reputation in the small world of gold. “If you think you can get 100 percent clean gold, you’ve failed before you’ve begun,” said Bob*, a London-based gold procurement expert working for a major player in the sector, speaking under condition of anonymity. His assessment of the Ghanaian government’s policy is no less harsh. “I don’t think there’s any major appetite at the moment to really understand where the gold comes from,” he said.
Alan*, a former employee of Gold Coast Refinery, echoed the sentiment. “Given the current state of gold production in Ghana, there will inevitably be irresponsibly sourced gold in the supply chain,” he said.
A potential conflict with corporate commitments
Despite the direct ties between artisanally produced gold and Gold Coast Refinery, the refinery appears in compliance disclosures from multinationals such as Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks and Xerox. This means the refinery provides gold to at least one of their suppliers — though it’s impossible to establish at what exact stage in the chain this gold is found, or to what extent it ends up in their products.
Valued for its conductivity, gold is used in many electronic components, such as processors and printed circuit boards. It could therefore appear in a Starbucks coffee machine, a Tesla onboard computer, a Xerox printer or an Amazon electronic product.
This potentially contradicts the commitments made by these U.S. brands regarding their supply chains, which can require suppliers to uphold human rights, protect the environment and promote responsible business practices — criteria that are incompatible with the open-pit mines devastating southern Ghana.
Faced with Forbidden Stories’ questions about their use of Ghanaian gold, the companies responded in different ways. While Amazon announced an “internal investigation” that could lead to “appropriate measures,” Xerox simply referred to its supplier list without providing further details. Starbucks said it was investigating “all reports of potential violations” of its supplier code of conduct, promising “appropriate measures” in the event of a breach.
Tesla was the only company that did not respond to Forbidden Stories’ requests for comment. The company published a list of smelters and refiners in its supply chain in 2025, which included Gold Coast Refinery. However, Tesla explains in this document that it cannot be certain that the companies named are actually present in its supply chain “given the nature of supply chains and commodities “.
Marc Ummel, from the Swiss NGO Swissaid, does not share this analysis. “There is this practice that has developed in the gold sector over the years, which consists of mixing all the gold together,” he said. “But if there is a real will for traceability, gold can physically be isolated at each stage; it just comes with additional costs.”
To try to reassure potential buyers and protect its cash flow, the Ghanaian government is stepping up its efforts: banning local gold trade to foreigners, conducting high-profile police operations against illegal mines and setting up a platform intended to trace gold from mine to export by the end of 2025.
Since returning to power in January, President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama’s main reform has been the creation of a body to centralize the purchase and export of gold, the GoldBod. Although some see it as a commendable project, it’s one whose ambitions Mahama himself has tempered. In early September, he explained that GoldBod currently buys gold produced in the country regardless of its legality. “It’s our land that is being destroyed, so let us get the benefit of it, instead of foreign traders,” he said. While the GoldBod’s CEO Sammy Gyamfi hastened to deny this, the admission remains illuminating.
*Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of those involved.
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