NATURAL RESOURCE EXPLOITATION AND NATIONAL SECURITY: A CASE STUDY OF ILLEGAL GOLD MINING IN GHANA

Ghana?s future prosperity and national security are intrinsically linked to the gold industry. Ghana is a resource-rich country with sizable timber, diamond, manganese, bauxite, gold, and crude oil deposits as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1: Map of Ghana Showing Locations of Some Natural Resources in the Country 

Source: (Ikpe, 2016)

Ghana?s natural resources serve as the primary source of domestic revenue for the country (Ghana Chamber of Mines, 2018: p. 10). Gold, principal among all the resources, generates the highest revenue for the country?s economy. Gold contributed over 95 per cent of Ghana?s mineral revenue in 2015 (Ghana Chamber of Mines, 2016). The mining sector accounted for 15.8 percent of Ghana?s domestic revenue in 2016