The first thing you notice about any small-scale mine site is a constant humming of mechanised water pumps and generators followed by the noise of countless workers, digging and hauling up pans of soil to be panned and washed. All this is backbreaking, dirty, noisy, insecure and dangerous work carried out on the promise of payment plus a daily meal until the gold is delivered. It is mind-boggling how the sheer muscle of humanity, driven on by the primeval urge to survive can move tonnes of earth every hour and in doing so carve vast ravines out hillsides, re-direct river courses, and sculpt entirely new landscapes as they pursue gold veins. But to truly understand the ASM sector you need to look beneath the obvious of environmental mismanagement, systemic mercury usage and child labour issues to understand the hidden driver of money and survival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/corporates-solution-conflict-gold-small-scale-miners
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