A Wreath of Stars by Bob Shaw
Ironically, for Gilbert Snook - who considered himself the human equivalent of a neutrino, a particle able to travel through the Earth without disturbing any other particle - it all started with the panic that followed the sighting of the anti-neutrino planet as it approached Earth. Earth was unaffected but Snook ended up in a small African Republic teaching English to diamond miners. Then the miners started seeing ghosts and Snook found himself at the centre of a bizarre and far-reaching scientific discovery - and in the middle of some very dirty political infighting.