25 October 2026 – The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) has expanded its enforcement strategy against illegal mining, shifting attention to individuals and businesses that manufacture, fabricate, transport, store, supply or otherwise facilitate access to equipment used for illegal mining.
The expanded approach became evident during a major NAIMOS operation at Eshaem in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region, where enforcement personnel disrupted several illegal mining sites stretching from the Eshaem road towards the Ankobra River.
During the operation, the task force destroyed 28 chanfang machines, 19 water pumps and five makeshift structures used to support illegal mining activities. Several illegal mining locations were identified along the operational corridor, including two major sites near the Ankobra River.
Evidence of recent excavator activity was observed at one site, while three excavators were found at another. A monitor was recovered from one of the machines, while critical components had already been removed from the others.
The operation took a significant turn when the task force, on its return from the area, encountered a Hyundai truck carrying 22 brand-new chanfang machines being offloaded into a store. The truck and all 22 machines were immediately seized.
An adjoining store was also found to contain a substantial quantity of equipment and spare parts associated with illegal mining operations. The premises were subsequently secured to enable further investigations into the source, ownership and intended destination of the equipment.
The development marks an important shift in NAIMOS’ enforcement strategy, as the Secretariat seeks to dismantle the supply networks that sustain illegal mining activities.
NAIMOS has observed that destroying chanfang machines, pumps and other equipment at illegal mining sites alone will not provide a lasting solution if operators can replace the machinery within days and return to the rivers.
The Secretariat is therefore extending enforcement beyond mining sites to the supply and logistics networks that enable illegal mining. Under this approach, increased attention will be directed at chanfang fabricators, equipment manufacturers and assemblers, dealers and suppliers, transporters, warehouses and stores, as well as individuals who knowingly rent excavators, pumps and other machinery for illegal mining operations.
NAIMOS will also intensify intelligence-gathering efforts to identify where illegal mining equipment is fabricated, assembled, stored and distributed. The objective is to prevent illegal miners from rapidly replacing equipment destroyed during enforcement operations and weaken the logistical networks that sustain repeated illegal mining along Ghana’s rivers, farms and other environmentally sensitive areas.
The Eshaem operation forms part of Operation WATER SHIELD, which aims to protect the Ankobra River, which remains under pressure from illegal mining in parts of the Western Region.
NAIMOS has indicated that operations will continue along the river corridor, with a broader focus on the networks supplying the machinery, fuel, transport and other logistics required for illegal mining.
The Secretariat has warned that individuals and businesses that knowingly manufacture, fabricate, transport, store, supply or rent equipment for illegal mining should no longer assume they are beyond the reach of enforcement simply because they are not physically operating at a mining site.
The fight against illegal mining, it stressed, will no longer end at the riverbank. It will extend to workshops where equipment is fabricated, stores where machinery is kept, vehicles used to transport it and networks that finance and supply the operations.
NAIMOS said it would continue working with relevant security and regulatory institutions to investigate the ownership and supply chains of equipment intercepted during operations and take appropriate action where links to illegal mining are established.
The Secretariat’s message is clear: those who provide the machinery and infrastructure that enable the destruction of Ghana’s rivers will face increased scrutiny as the enforcement effort widens to target the supply chains supporting illegal mining.
