‘A Crisis of Colossal Scale’: The Illegal Gold Rush Tearing Ethiopia Apart |Rush for Gold in Tigray

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Rush for Gold in Ethiopia’s Tigray

In post-war Tigray, a multibillion-dollar gold rush is gripping the region, lining the pockets of armed actors and foreign financiers while devastating local communities. A global surge in gold prices, driven by countries like the US and China racing to stockpile reserves, is part of what is driving the boom in a place “where an emerging resource economy must contend with a thriving illicit one.” Reporters from The Globe and Mail and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism spent weeks in the region diving into illicit mining in particular, interviewing miners, security officials, government insiders, and community members, and analyzed satellite imagery alongside hundreds of leaked documents, financial statements, and public records. Internal government data show Ethiopia’s central bank has bought more than 18,000kg of gold from Tigray’s artisanal miners — 30 times what the region was projected to legally produce.