Galamsey is a menace!!
A national clear and present danger!!
Galamsey is likely to cause an ecological catastrophe for Ghana in the next five to ten years if it is not contained, arrested and RESET.
The current portfolio of actions by the government toward this goal is commendable.
Galamsey is said to mean ‘gather and sell’ and historically referred to the method of harvesting gold for use by chiefs in adorning their various traditional and ritualistic artefacts. Its extraction methods were sacred and known only to a select few goldsmiths. Using small tools and implements at the time, its impact was never a threat to the ecology.
With the advent of heavy machinery and the associated destruction of rivers, forests, and other sensitive ecological sites; the pollution of drinking water sources; and the rise in birth defects, deformities, and mercury and cyanide poisoning, the word Galamsey has earned itself a very bad reputation.
But this is not an article on Galamsey, an advocacy for Galamsey, nor does this article seek to support it in any form or shape!! Please, therefore, bear with me.
Symptomatic Basis
The symptomatic basis of modern-day Galamsey, however, is that for some of Ghana’s youth, it represents a desperate attempt to earn a living amid high and persistent unemployment and widespread helplessness. Therefore, regardless of the damage to the environment, fragile ecosystems, personal health, legality, or security it persists. Driven by the soaring price of Gold, currently (October 2025) it’s approaching US$4000 per ounce, Modern Day Galamsey is as dangerous as a guerrilla insurgency.
It will not be easy to defeat in the short to medium term! The pull factors are too strong, and the pickings too rich, and rewards too enticing.
Galamsey and Youth Unemployment
The World Bank (2020) estimated that Ghana’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) sector employs a million plus people. The Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM) reports in 2021 that the legal small-scale mining sector employs about 1.2 million Ghanaians.
It is estimated that Ghanaians directly depending on ASM/Galamsey exceed four million. If the estimates are correct, that’s a significant number, representing almost 10% of the population. This reliance highlights the critical socioeconomic role that artisanal mining plays, especially in communities where alternative sources of income are limited or non-existent. The challenge, therefore, is not just environmental but fundamentally tied to livelihoods and national development strategies.
It is estimated that Ghanaians directly depending on ASM/Galamsey exceed four million. If the estimates are correct, that’s a significant number, representing almost 10% of the population.
Data by the Ghana Statistical Service in its LABOUR STATISTICS, 2023 Quarter 3 Bulletin, places in its Figure 9, states the average number of Unemployed Youth as 1,374,329.
The NDC’s manifesto promise of “1 million Coders” program, therefore well targeted. However, let’s take this further!!
Gold Board
Until the advent of the Gold Board, Galamsey Gold was mostly smuggled, robbing the country of Billions of Dollars. In the first half of the year, Gold Board export revenues for Gold exceeded US$8 billion and are projected to close the year at an unprecedented export revenue of over US$16 Billion.
Gold exports exclusively through the Gold Board are said to account singularly for the historic appreciation of the Ghana Cedi against all major world currencies.
Gold Price Leverage
Globally though, Gold acts as a safe-haven asset, hedging itself to the Dollar, and therefore inversely related to its rise and fall. The current rising price of Gold is said to be purely driven by the continuous weakening of U.S. dollar value, “fuelled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s upending of Western security policy, his trade wars with other countries.” (Reuters)
J.P. Morgan Research (now) expects prices to average $3,675/oz by the final quarter of 2025, rising toward $4,000/oz by the second quarter of 2026. (Reuters)
Gold Price Determination
Gold prices internationally are largely set by speculation rather than the real costs of production and the long term cost of environmental restoration from deep earth mining and the devastative effects of Galamsey activities.
Other than the traditional export and marketing of Gold Globally, on the Global Stock Exchanges, traders profit from Gold price fluctuations without ever owning or handling an ounce of physical Gold. Computer systems and algorithms facilitate most trades, generating greater profits than firms and Countries that mine and export the metal.
For Ghana’s Gold via Gold Board, therefore, the ultimate price at which it sells and exports the GOLD will always be determined by a process that is beyond its immediate control.
Global Stock Exchange and GOLD
Data from Statista.com reports that the value of DAILY TRANSACTIONS on the Global Stock Exchanges for all traded assets amounted to US$6.6 Trillion in 2023 and exceeded US$8 Trillion per Day in the first half of 2025.
Gold.org reports that the Global Gold market was highly liquid, with Average Daily Trading Volumes reaching US$329 Billion in the first half of 2025, the highest semi-annual figure since 2018.
Further, Trading on Exchanges like the COMEX and the Shanghai Futures Exchange was a major driver, averaging US$159 billion per day.
The Over-The-Counter (OTC) market also saw increased activity, averaging US$165 billion per day in 2025.
Question
So, the key question then is, Who are the drivers of the over US$324 Billion Daily transactions for Gold on the Global Stock Exchanges of the world?
The Global Gold Market ecosystem is a complex one and outside the scope of this article; however, data based on financial disclosures, industry reports (Coalition Greenwich, S&P Global), and exchange data, reveal that a couple of the top institutional firms involved in Gold trading by revenue for 2024–2025 are in Table 1;
| COMPANY | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| TOTAL, BILLION US$ | $462.13 | $474.14 | |
| Glencore plc | $255.98 | $217.83 | $230.94 |
| Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. | N/A | $244.30 | $243.2 |
Table 1: Notes: It is to be noted, though, that Gold-specific revenue is not formally broken out in filings—it is embedded in broader “Commodities” or “FICC” segments.
Derivatives Market
Deep research suggests that major algorithmic and high-frequency trading (HFT) firms active in the Global derivatives markets, such as options, futures, and swaps, generated substantial revenues in 2024, with estimates ranging from hundreds of millions to over $20 billion per firm, reflecting market volatility and expanded trading volumes.
| COMPANY | 2024 | 2025, Half Yr |
| TOTAL, BILLION US$ | $38.20 | $28.42 |
| Jane Street | $20.50 | $17.30 |
| Citadel Securities | $9.70 | $5.78 |
| Hudson River Trading | $8.00 | $5.34 |
Table 2: Top Companies in the Derivatives Market.
These figures include significant contributions from derivatives, though exact breakdowns are limited due to the private nature of most firms.
In the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), revenues appear even stronger amid heightened market activity, which suggests an annualized pace exceeding 2024 levels.
Africa and GHANA
What is illustrated by the financials above is that substantial earnings can be derived from participating in the wider value chain for Gold trade beyond the current export of raw or refined Gold.
The apparent inability or disinterest of African countries, including Ghana, to establish robust systems that effectively participate in the broader value chains of their exported raw materials is a significant concern. This issue is especially pressing in light of major challenges such as rapidly growing youth populations, modern infrastructure provision, water, electricity, housing, etc, and raw material prices outside their control.
Ghana, the leading producer of Gold in Africa, export earnings in Q1 2025 amounted to US$8 Billion or US$33 Million per day. The 3 top African Gold export revenues, full year published data 2023, state that Ghana US$6.6 Billion, South Africa US$6.3 Billion, Mali US$5.0 Billion and Zimbabwe US$2.24 Billion.
These export earnings pale in comparison to just three top Derivatives Trading Firms that have combined revenue of US$30.2 Billion. (Table 2)
Article Objective
In this article, therefore, I, synthesise Galamsey metaphorically and arrive at one of the ways participation in the wider Global value Chains for Gold can be exploited, with the potential to solve Ghana’s Graduate unemployment problem, earn new, substantial foreign exchange stream, potentially eclipsing raw Gold exports in the near future, create Mass Wealth amongst the Ghanaian youth, drive the emergence of a new youthful Middle Class of Entrepreneurs and offer a significant PULL factor that helps unravel Galamsey as we know it today.
In this article, I seek to channel the same relentless energy of the Youth, the same desire to extract value from the earth, into a modern, legal, and sustainable platform that extracts value digitally from the cloud.
This article is long; however, it is important to explain the underlying principles and concepts thoroughly.
Please indulge me!!! READ
The Key
The key to this national strategic targeting is to focus on the Gold Average Daily Trading value of US$329 Billion for the first half of 2025. The objective is to target a small fraction.
Fractional Scenarios
While admitting that the daily transactions figure does not reflect Profits made, it is safe to assume that some significant profit is made from each transaction, as illustrated in Table 2.
Therefore, should Ghana target 10% of US$329 Billion, that’s US$32.9 Billion per day? It is overambitious, unrealistic, and unattainable even on the long term!!!
Similarly.
- Target 1%, returns $3.29 Billion per Day; Unrealistic, Unattainable
- Target 0.1%, returns $0.33 Billion ($330 Million) per Day; Unrealistic, Unattainable
- Target 0.01%, returns $0.033Billion ($33 Million) per Day; YES!!! ABSOLUTELY
- Target 0.001%, returns $0.0033Billion ($3.3 Million) per Day; YES!!! ABSOLUTELY
As in 3., should Ghana achieve target US$3.3 Million daily, that translates to new and additional foreign exchange revenue of US$769 million yearly, and at US$33 Million Daily, a whopping US$7.9 Billion.
How does Ghana achieve US$3.3 Million Daily??
Ghana achieves this target by training its unemployed graduates and newly graduating youth in the skilled and art of Gold Assets, (AUXUSD) trading on the Global Stock Exchanges on a MASS scale!!!
Hypothetically, therefore.
- 3,300 Traders, each earning US$1,000 daily, will return US$3.3 Million Daily OR
- 6,600 Traders, each earning US$500 daily OR
- 13,200 Traders, at US$250 Daily OR
- 26,400 Traders at US$125 Daily OR
- 52,800 Traders at US$62.5 Daily!!!! YES!! Feasible, Practical, Possible, Doable!!
Similarly, to achieve a target of US$33 Million Daily for a potential foreign exchange earning of US$7.7 Billion, it is necessary to grow the trained Traders numbers consistently to 528,000 Traders each earning US$62.50 Daily on average.
Ghana Unemployed and Graduates
Ghana produces approximately 140,000 new graduates currently. The 2024 National Service postings data, aggregated at 143,677, perhaps best provides real-time insights into graduation output, as service is mandatory for most tertiary graduates.
Given the significant number of unemployed graduates in Ghana, it is reasonable to conclude that the country can identify 500,000 young individuals who possess sufficient computer literacy to be trained over a 5-to-10-year period, in trading Gold assets on Global Stock Exchanges.
Digital “Galamsey”
While Galamsey traditionally means “gather and sell”, may I introduce the term Digital “Galamsey”, which in this context means “gather our Graduates and have them Digitally sell their skills Globally”.
While Galamsey digs pits uses heavy-duty excavators and water pumps, Cham fans, etc in their trade, Digital “Galamsey” used the simple laptop computer or smartphone, access to the internet, a broker account and voila !! we dig into Data.
Galamsey destroys the forests, water bodies, farms, use dangerous chemicals that are a threat to humans and animals, with associated birth deformities, mercury poisoning and other health hazards, Digital “Galamsey” does not harm the environment, harms humans and animals, threaten farmlands, etc.
Galamsey mines the earth for finite Gold dust, Digital “Galamsey” mines the Gold in the infinite digital Cloud!!!
Galamsey’s Raw Gold is finite; Digital “GALAMSEY” S Digital GOLD is infinite even after 1000 years!!!
Digital “Galamsey” IS ABOUT BUILDING DIGITAL WEALTH!!
DIGITAL ARMY
Ghana’s new army of Gold Traders are the DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS, DIGITAL GOLD TRADERS, YOUTH IN FOREX TRADERS (YiFT)!!
The Army of DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS, once trained, is bequeathed with Global skills, trade autonomously irrespective of location, be it Accra, London, Paris, Dubai, Shanghai, etc.
They can trade all other assets on the stocks, from Global company stocks, Tesla, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, when the Gold price is at a lull!!
DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS is a skill that can be mastered, irrespective of academic qualification, be it a graduate of Astrology to Zoology and all in between; US$ does not discriminate.
DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS can trade 24 hours a day, waking to the London Stock Exchanges, then New York in the afternoon, then Sydney and Asia after midnight, delivering HE President John Mahama’s brilliant 24-hour ECONOMY MODEL.
4 Key Thematic Areas
Digital “GALAMSEY” is therefore a youth empowerment program that delivers on 4 key thematic areas.
- Mass Youth Engagement: that solves graduate unemployment, builds a new crop of youthful entrepreneurs, with potentially significant incomes.
- Foreign Exchange Earnings: a potentially significant new foreign exchange earner for Ghana based purely on the skilled, intellectual knowledge and know-how of Ghanaian Youth!!
- New Middle Class: a youthful crop of US$ Millionaire entrepreneurs, whose numbers increase yearly, a critical measure of true national wealth!!!
- Mass Wealth Creation: A national objective that measures national progress via the number of new millionaires its economy creates yearly!!!
Let’s get Personal!!
I have earlier illustrated GHANA’S potential foreign exchange earnings of Digital GALAMSEY. What’s in it for the DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS!!!
For this illustration, may I introduce 3 hypothetical GALAMSEYERS named KOFI, AMA and Mr. QUAYE, who each have completed their skilled Training and development and are active Traders based on their varied individual skills and abilities.
KOFI trades and earns US$25/Day, US$500/Month and GHC6,000/Month at GHC12=US$1
AMA earns US$100/Day, $2,000/Month, GHC24,000/month equivalent
Mr. QUAYE, US$500/Day, $10,000/Month, GHC120,000/Month.
Yearly therefore,
- KOFI earns US$6,000, GHC72,000
- AMA earns US$24,000, GHC288,000
- Mr QUAYE US$120,000, GHC1.4Million
Compared to current wages and salaries, DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS will earn significantly better.
Scenario 1
Taken further, should we have 10,000 each of KOFI, AMA and Mr QUAYE, their total Yearly contribution will be;
- KOFI US$6k yearly, x10,000 delivers US$60 Million
- AMA US$24k yearly, x10,000 delivers US$240 Million
- Mr. QUAYE US$120K, x10,000 delivers US$1.2 Billion
Scenario 2
Taken further, should we have 100,000 each of KOFI, AMA and Mr QUAYE, their total Yearly contribution will be;
- KOFI US$6k yearly, x100,000 delivers US$600 Million
- AMA US$24k yearly, x100,000 delivers US$2.40 Billion
- Mr. QUAYE US$120K, x100,000 delivers US$12.0 Billion
300,000 Digital Galamseyers in this illustration potentially deliver a Total of US$15 Billion a year!!!
Ghana Exports
With 100,000 active DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS;
- KOFI’s at US$600 Million equal the total export value of COCOA Paste at US$600 Million 2023 data.
- AMA’s at US$2.4 Billion EXCEED Ghana COCOA Crop exports at US$1.76 Billion, 2024 data.
- Mr. QUAYE’s at US$12 Billion EXCEEDS Ghana GOLD Exports at US$6.6 Billion, 2023 Data.
In reality, the individual income earnings for DIGITAL GALAMSEYERS will vary, some earning below US$25 per Day and other exceeding US$25 per Day to reach AMA’s US$100 per Day. Other exceeding AMA’s to reach Mr QUAYE US$500 per Day and still others earning in excess of US$1000 per Day. These are just illustrative.
A full financial study based on realistic income spreads as skills improve, based on normal distribution curve modelling etc, based on projected new Trader’s uptake and failure rate, growing infrastructure placements at pace with uptake, based on AI algorithms-based financial modelling, is complete but proprietary now.
HOW???
Utopian Ideas!! Removed from reality ?? I respectfully beg to differ!!
Having worked through the depths of Training, the details of the Training and the mentorship training required, the infrastructure, distribution of training centres, computers and high-speed internet access required, costing, etc, DG is fully realisable.
The training curriculum, Trainer of Trainers programs, catalogue of the various online training videos, certifications and trading skills testing and proof etc, deploying the best AI to create robotic Trading skill sharpers, certification and profitability contests, leaves me confident DIGITAL GALAMSEY is feasible.
There is no kidding that it will take years to build up skill sets in such a mass number of Traders, so we need to begin now!! Another day lost is financial loss to the nation. The progress of Ghana cannot be sacrificed.
The financials here are purely hypothetical to illustrate potentials at best. Developed algorithm that simulates real live operational scenarios, learning curve and growth, cost of training, infrastructure, funding of Traders, projected and expected returns for investors, etc to arrive at a business plan that is bankable for a private public partnership implementation.
Risk Mitigation studies and detailed methodologies to mitigate them, using amongst others trading signal, copy trading etc to ensure that potential losses are minimised, reduced and capital flight blocked.
Legislation and regulation to protect the Traders, Brokers, investors etc are required to be studied promulgated and passed into law.
Doable?? ABSOLUTELY!!!
Time to take the Bull by the horns, give Ghanaian youth an opportunity to make themselves relevant, while taking Ghana to the higher Income Countries bracket.
In Conclusion
I dare say that Digital GALAMSEY will be the most significant LEGACY INTERVENTION of H.E president John Dramani Mahama. Addressing Graduate unemployment for a millennium, leveraging this to earn Ghana a new foreign exchange stream, that does not require the export of any raw material except for the pure intellect, skills of the youth, and the evolution of the next generation of young entrepreneurs with the resources to accelerate the development of our beloved Country.
God bless our homeland GHANA!!!
My 2 Pesewas!!!
Leslie Mensah TAMAKLOE
October 2025
