In the remarkable gold rush that gripped the
Tapajos river basin after the metal was discovered there in 1958, tens
of thousands of garimpeiros (prospectors) moved in.
While only a few got rich, most made a much better living
than they would have done in rubber-tapping, fishing or subsistence
agriculture.Although the pickings have become sparser in recent years, many men are still at work in primitive, unregistered gold mines.
The discovery of vast gold reserves in the subsoil has put the small-scale prospectors at odds with big, modern mining companies.
The subsoil reserves are inaccessible to the artisanal mining methods of the garimpeiros, but multinational companies are keen to stake a claim on these untapped riches.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25445824
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