To learn to be an illegal gold miner takes only a few hours. They work in packs of three or four, using a crude system of pumps and hoses to turn sandy river banks into a slurry the color of café con leche.
The sediment is sifted through screens and old carpets and poured into barrels, where a barefoot miner (or his child) stomps this toxic stew of mud and mercury until a small, shiny ball of gold and mercury amalgam remains at the bottom.
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