Estimates of the number of workers in the Madre de Dios gold camps range from 15,000 to 50,000.
Workers
fell trees to clear the mine site or operate huge motorized suction
hoses that send a cascade of mud over a sluice. When the heavier,
gold-bearing sediment settles to the bottom, the miners use their hands
or feet to mix it with mercury, which clings to the gold, separating it
from the sand. Then they heat the amalgam, sometimes with nothing more
than a blowtorch, vaporizing the mercury and leaving behind a chunk of
gold.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/peru-gold-mining-forced-labor
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