Illegal gold mining in the firing line
COUNTRIES across the continent are moving to quash illegal gold mining, using a variety of methods including formalising the sector, applying more stringent legal processes and even resorting to military intervention, with a Ghanaian court recently sentencing a Chinese national to prison for illegal gold mining, “The court in the capital, Accra, sentenced Aisha Huang to four and a half years imprisonment and a fine of 48,000 Ghanaian cedis ($4,000) for running an illegal mining operation,” Reuters reported of the sentencing on December 4, which brought an end to a trial that started in 2017. Ghana is the 10th largest…