EQUIPMENT mounted on River Ankobra by illegal miners, believed to be Chinese, and their Ghanaian accomplices at Adansi in the Wassa Amenfi East District in the Western Region.
The miners continue to pollute the river with dangerous chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, thereby endangering the lives of thousands of people in communities who depend on the river for their main source of drinking water.
In addition to the mining machinery, which they have mounted on the river, they also use heavy-duty earth-moving machines to divert part of the river in order to carry out their mining activities.
The illegal miners operate at night to escape being arrested by the Wassa Amenfi East Assembly and the security agencies.
After polluting the diverted water, it is then released back into the main river which flows down to the communities from the Amenfi East areas through Dominase to the estuary in the Ellembelle District.
When the Daily Graphic got to Dekoto in the Wassa Amenfi East District, after an hour and half drive on a torturous road, the colour of the water which the people drink had changed to yellow.
Their activities have also created serious environmental problems since the green vegetative cover in these communities in the deepest part of the northern part of the Western Region and large tract of farmlands have been destroyed.
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