According to her introduction, 98% of China people who mine gold in Ghana come from Shanglin County, Nanning, Guangxi. They have been engaged in gold mining in Heilongjiang and other places before, and they also have the technology to mine gold.
Later, when the first batch of Nanning people arrived in Ghana, they found it more profitable to collect gold there in cooperation with local landlords, so they recruited all their relatives who knew a little about gold mining technology. "The situation is a bit like' one person getting rich drives the whole family to get rich'." Monica said that after they arrived in Ghana, these people bought their own equipment and worked hard to mine gold, providing the landlord with a 20% share every month.
The average wage of local workers in China is 5,000 yuan per month, with 2% commission per month. If the benefit of the mine is good, a worker can earn more than100000 yuan every year. Most of them enter the country illegally, and the way to cooperate with Ghanaians is to "scratch the ball". Auburn, Ghana's Minister of Mines, once told the media that gold miners in China changed the ecology of small-scale gold mines in Ghana. "They used heavy machinery and toxic substances, causing serious damage".
The local people in Ghana believe that foreign gold miners have caused the local environment to deteriorate, encroached on farmers' land, and formed a deep contradiction with foreign gold miners. Conflicts often occur between the two sides. In order not to be attacked, foreign gold miners often fire warning shots.
Since April 20 13, Guangxi gold miners in Ghana have killed their compatriots and shot the locals, which has caused social security problems and great dissatisfaction among the locals.
In mid-May, under the auspices of Ghanaian President Mahama, Ghana's Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Interior and other five ministries and commissions formed a special working group to clean up illegal gold mining. Subsequently, Ghana police, immigration police and other security departments began to jointly carry out clean-up and rectification actions. "Illegal" Dilemma of Gold Miners in Ghana
On June 1 day, 25-year-old Zhao Li (pseudonym) flew back to China from Ghana and immediately returned to his hometown in Fujian.
"I have long realized that things are not good. The day after I came back, the domestic media began to report what happened to my compatriots in Ghana. They are constantly being robbed and hiding in the mountains. " Compared with our compatriots who are not out of danger, Zhao Li feels lucky.
Amisah Arthur, vice president of Ghana, said yesterday that Ghana's nearly month-long crackdown on illegal gold mining was not aimed at China people. On May 14, the President of Ghana announced the establishment of a ministerial joint working group to combat illegal gold mining to guide and coordinate the joint law enforcement actions of the central and local departments. Law enforcement targets include all Ghanaians and foreigners engaged in illegal mining in Canada, as well as local people who sell or transfer mining licenses and land to foreigners for commercial activities in violation of Canadian laws. Suspects of illegal gold mining in many countries, including China citizens, were arrested.
The legend of "getting rich overnight"
Attracted a large number of gold diggers
After graduating from Zhao Li University, he worked in Ghana. With his language advantage, he worked as an interpreter in several mining areas in Ghana, and also helped some former domestic investors to deal with commercial disputes.
In recent years, due to the concentration of investors from Shanglin and other places in Guangxi to Ghana, the legend of "getting rich overnight" began to spread in many places in China: someone brought 5 million yuan, and three years later it became 1 100 million.
"It is this rumor that has attracted a large number of investors to Ghana." Zhao Li said that due to the domestic economic situation and the impact of the economic crisis in Europe and America, many investors turned their attention to West Africa, known as the "Gold Coast". According to local laws in Ghana, foreigners are not allowed to operate small mining areas under 25 acres, nor are they allowed to engage in first-line gold panning. Zhao Li said that if investors want to start production quickly, they can only cooperate with local people who have formal mining procedures.
In the past two years, relying on the personal resources accumulated by translators, Zhao Li began to introduce some relatively rich mines to domestic investors, and obtained agency fees from them.
"Generally, a business can get about 6.5438+500,000 RMB, and I also introduced some people to engage in formal mining cooperation." Zhao Li introduced that he had studied the relevant laws of Ghana's mining industry and had a clear understanding of the cooperation mode. Investors can go through formal mining procedures in Ghana, but it takes a long time and costs a lot, so it is impossible to do it without tens of millions.
"Workers generally use landing in Ghana to get a three-month tourist visa. During this three-month period, the boss who brought them will apply for the corresponding work visa. Even if they can't do this because of official government factors, most bosses will help workers with visa extension procedures to ensure their legal residence. " The long time and complicated procedures make some investors unwilling to waste time going through these procedures. Zhao Li said there were some illegal workers in Ghana, but he didn't think they were illegally exploited by China people.
"The mining procedure is sponsored by local mines, and China investors can only provide Ghana's scarce equipment and technical support at the construction site, and then earn a share. Usually, the commission for land is 15% to 20%, and the rest is shared by China investors and local workers.
Zhao Li said that Ghana's crackdown on illegal mining is not only aimed at the people of China. Even mining areas invested by European and American countries will be punished if they do not abide by local laws and go through relevant procedures and backfill mines.
20 12, 10 in June, China 16-year-old gold miner Chen Long was shot while the local military police were investigating gold mining activities. This incident made Zhao Li feel that the investment risk began to shift from capital risk to life safety. "They say I run faster than a rabbit. I don't have so many equipment and workers, and it's easy to walk. " Zhao Li said.
"If you can go through the formalities, who won't?"
Zhang Qiang (pseudonym) is one of the investors who left Ghana earlier. He stayed in Ghana for less than half a year. Since June, Zhang Qiang, who lives in Beijing, has adjusted his schedule to "Ghana mode", falling asleep at eight or nine in the morning and getting up at three or four in the afternoon, always paying attention to the dynamics in Ghana.
In 20 12, at the suggestion of a friend, Zhang Qiang raised RMB 3 million to "gold rush" in Ghana, and only one excavator was worth RMB10.4 million.
"Many times, when you are under construction, the guns of the military police are on your head." Recalling his life in Ghana, Zhang Qiang is still concerned. In order to protect the safe production in the mining area, he had to equip the workers with guns in case of emergency.
Zhang Qiang said that it is common to encounter robbery on the construction site. Sometimes after work, he will tell the workers to put some scattered cash and about 100-200 grams of gold in the shed, just for the convenience that "robbery is a common thing."
Apart from robbery, Zhang Qiang felt that some China investors failed to apply for documents according to local requirements, which also became a "handle" for being bullied. "They know that some China people don't have official work visas, so they often come to check their documents." When it comes to inspection, Zhang Qiang said that you can usually deal with it by paying some fines.
"Another example is the work visa. If we can do it according to the charging standard and processing time required by Ghana, the time cost can not be delayed. If their procedures are formal, I believe quite a few people are still willing to spend this money. " Zhang Qiang said.
"There are many reasons for this. First, there are too many China gold diggers here, and there is no backfill after mining, which causes damage to the local environment; Second, because the gun management is not strict, robbery cases occur from time to time. China people have guns in the mining area. When there is a robbery in the mining area, some people will fight with it, causing casualties; Besides, it has something to do with their political situation. In fact, we China people are still welcome in Ghana because it promotes their employment and business. " In the face of this storm, Zhang Qiang feels that it is caused by many factors.
Zhang Qiang said that since Ghana began to inspect gold miners, some investors bought air tickets for them to return home out of their responsibility to the workers, but most investors had to keep an eye on their construction sites and equipment to prevent being robbed and burned.
Ghana's investigation into illegal gold mining has been described by many as a "crazy arrest". In the QQ group where some Ghanaian gold diggers gathered, people kept asking about the return ticket and whether anyone had bought excavators and pickups.
"Most people are in the wait-and-see stage like me, and I still have 6.5438+0.2 million investment that has not been recovered." Only after half a year, Zhang Qiang's enterprise did not recover its funds as quickly as the legend said. Zhang Qiang said that the situation at their construction site is not the worst. Some people sold their property and pooled their shares to invest together. Because there is no suitable reference in the local area, there are many mines that have not been started for half a year.
Only six China companies are legally mining gold.
"People who used to invest made money and then brought other relatives and friends to invest. In fact, this not only helped them, but also hurt them. " Zhao Li said that people who came to invest in gold mines in the later period were lured by huge profits, and often ignored local laws and did not follow the rules. The investment they brought could not be recovered, and they could only watch helplessly as they were robbed by local people.
From 20 12 to 12, Mahama was re-elected as President of Ghana. Zhao Li, who has an accurate analysis of the situation in Ghana, believes that Ghana's external environment has changed, different political parties have different attitudes towards foreign investment, countries such as Europe, America and Japan have strengthened their economic assistance to Ghana, and some "non-compliant" mining behaviors have become the "handle" for the Ghanaian government to drive private investors away from China.
"In the process of mining, most people are still law-abiding. Even illegal residence in Ghana itself is a legal loophole. They allow foreigners to land visas, cooperate in mining and extend contracts. As for some investors and workers who don't obey the law, they didn't go through the relevant procedures and didn't respect the local residents. They destroyed the local environment, which really left a bad impression on the local people and brought trouble to other investors. " Zhao Li said.
"In the last two years, there have been fewer and fewer relatively good mines, more and more people have come, and resources have become less and less." Zhang Qiang said that people who invest in Ghana are basically introduced by acquaintances, but it is difficult to determine whether the invested mines have mining value, and sometimes it depends on luck.
"At present, only six China companies are legally mining gold in Ghana and have formal procedures. Others are scattered investors, and there are many small and medium-sized enterprises. Domestic investors still need to improve their own quality. They can't just think that there is gold everywhere without doing what they should do. I have seen some mines, the soil has been turned over, and the original green jungle has become a white wasteland. " Zhao Li said.
The embarrassment of private investors
Different from ordinary migrant workers, in addition to financial risks, investors like Zhang Qiang also need to bear the living expenses of workers and air tickets to and from China, including the cost of entry and exit formalities.
"Ghana is dying, and everyone can go somewhere else instead of putting eggs in one basket." Mr. Cao, who is engaged in gold mining management in Ghana with Zhang Qiang, is worried about future investment. Investors close to him, many of their sheds were burned down, and they could only hide in the mountains or rent houses with workers. Now, they are worried about excavators that have been forced to abandon in the mountains.
"If the situation is not good, these devices can only be sold at a low price. Local people can't afford it, and neither can China people. At this moment, life is more important than money, and it is thrown to Ghanaians in vain. People from Ghana Immigration Bureau and Taxation Bureau will check or even tear up your passport when they see people with yellow skin and ask for money directly. " Zhao Li said that even formal enterprises were affected at this stage, not to mention relatively relaxed private investors. Whether staying in Ghana or going to other countries, Mr. Cao hopes that domestic private investors going to West Africa can "warm up" and form a "linkage". Mr. Cao said that in the face of such a storm, some investors do not intend to return to China, saying that they are "seeking wealth and risks" and waiting for new opportunities after the storm.