Emergy Perspectives on the Environmental Performance and Sustainability of Small-Scale Gold Production Systems in Ghana

Ernest Frimpong Asamoah, Lixiao Zhang, Sai Liang, Mingyue Pang and Shoujuan Tang
Additional contact information
Ernest Frimpong Asamoah: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Lixiao Zhang: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Sai Liang: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Mingyue Pang: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Shoujuan Tang: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Small-scale gold mining is an important component of the Ghanaian economy but it has also caused enormous damage to local ecosystems. In this paper, an emergy analysis was conducted in Ghana to assess the environmental performance and the relative sustainability of two artisanal and small-scale gold production systems: alluvial “dig and wash” and underground “ghetto” mines. Results show that both production systems have high environmental impacts, as indicated by an environmental loading ratio (ELR) of 4.31 and environmental sustainability index (ESI) of 0.33 for the alluvial system and 2.53 and 0.52 for the underground system, respectively. Concerning the international trade balance, the emergy exchange ratios of the two systems are both lower than one, at, 0.23 and 0.33 for the alluvial and underground systems, respectively, indicating a significant amount of resource loss to foreign regions. This study could assist in the regulation of the small-scale mining sector bearing in mind the unsustainable nature of their activities. In addition, supporting miners to consider land rehabilitation ethics is urgently needed.

Keywords: artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM); emergy analysis; environmental sustainability; Ghana (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/11/2034/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/11/2034/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:11:p:2034-:d:118878

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().