photos

Think your office space is dreary? Consider this cubicle: Some of these gold mining pits go hundreds of feet deep and tragically, also cave in from time to time.

Although the women smiled hospitably for our cameras, they were worried and upset. They are called galamsey; illegal artisanal gold miners in Ghana who say they are used as prospectors for larger mining concerns to detect deposits, then are forced off the land.

It is estimated that 50% of the miners in Africa are women, and although numbers are hard to determine, it’s likely that well over one million children under the age of 15 work in mines around the world. Please check our reading room for links to important articles on the subject.

An artisanal miner who assisted with Cleangold tests in Suriname, on the Saramacca river. During the slave trade, Suriname received over 300,000 Africans. Known today as Maroons, those who weren’t killed escaped to the interior and rebuilt their societies. Suriname is one of the most culturally and ecologically diverse countries on Earth.

That silvery material at the rim of the pan is free mercury and amalgam captured with Cleangold technology from one batel's worth (approx. 4lbs) of tailings from an abandoned mine area. When we displayed our amazement at the amount, we were told this was “nothing,” we were actually in a low-mercury usage area.

A close-up of amalgam (gold absorbed by mercury) particles from the photo above, nominal mag 100X. Photomicrograph by David Plath.

All photos copyright by Kristina Shafer except where indicated.

®