ABOUT 50 kilometres north of the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, three illegal gold miners stand knee-deep in mud at a mining site they say was closed with no warning a few weeks earlier. The men dig through the gravel and shovel it on to green floor mats they use as makeshift sieve to remove the stones. Then they carefully sift through the remaining sand. It sparkles with the promise of gold.
Using their bare hands and a single garden hoe, the three men don’t stop working, even to answer questions about their lives and their dangerous work.
“So you know that it’s poisonous and potentially killing you slowly, but you use and directly handle it anyway?” they’re asked.
The miners let out a dry laugh, and continue working.
“Of course we do. But what choice do we have?”
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