Gold Mining

In Ghana gold accounts for 90% of the country's total mineral exports and is Africa's 2nd largest gold producer (I'm guessing after Tanzania).  The economy is Ghana largely depends on the exports of cocoa and gold.  There are over 20 registered large scale mines in operation, 300 registered small scale mines in operation, and a whole lot of illegal mines.

On one hand it is understandable that there are so many illegal gold mines.  The people that actually live in the areas don't see any benefit from the big companies coming in.  On the other hand--the illegal gold miners are making a mess of the beautiful land that could be use for cultivating plantains, cocoa, etc.  Reclamation is not part of their vocabulary.

The road from Abomosu to the main road passes by a fairly large illegal mine on both sides.  You can conveniently pay off the cops to get them off your back, go home, and then come back the next day to try again.