Estimated $2bn lost in missed taxes from environmentally destructive practice some blame on political corruption

Felicity Nelson remembers her 17-day detention last September vividly. The 34-year-old Ghanaian activist was one of 53 people arrested at a road junction in Accra after demonstrating alongside hundreds of other youths against illegal mining.

In detention, the group found a 54th person in their midst who had not been at the protest but was apprehended after visiting Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the protest’s organiser in hospital.