Hundreds of people marched through Ghana's capital Accra on Friday in a peaceful protest against unlicensed gold mining, calling on authorities to act against the dangerous and environmentally damaging practice.

Ghanaian unions have called off a strike after the government promised to take measures to clean up Africa’s biggest gold producer’s small-scale mining sector.

Ghana is introducing new measures to combat illegal mining, the presidency said Wednesday, amid mounting public pressure on the government to address the issue in recent weeks. President Nana Akufo-Addo announced "the deployment of additional military personnel" as well as "naval boats on polluted river bodies to ensure the immediate cessation of all mining activities,

At an unlicensed gold mine in Ghana, men in t-shirts, shorts and rubber boots wade through pools of muddy water laced with mercury, pull out rocks with bare hands and operate a rickety sluice as they search for the precious ore.