Ghana’s fight against illegal mining has long focused on one symbol of environmental destruction: the excavator. Between 2018 and 2024, security operations seized and destroyed more than a thousand of these machines, as shown in the infographic below. But the numbers also raise difficult questions about accountability, cost, and strategy. With each excavator valued at roughly $250,000, the total value of machinery taken off mining sites exceeds $258 million, a staggering figure for a developing country battling degraded farmlands, polluted rivers, and struggling rural infrastructure.
Yet despite these huge interventions, illegal mining persists, and some seized excavators have mysteriously found their way back into the field, fueling public concern about weak oversight. As Ghana intensifies its anti-galamsey campaign, the debate is shifting: Are we destroying valuable national resources, or failing to manage them transparently? And could these same machines have been repurposed to reclaim damaged lands or open up rural roads instead of going up in flames?
The data offers a sobering starting point for that conversation.
Excavator Data between 2018 and 2024