We’re glad this article found its way to you. If you’re not a subscriber, we’d love for you to consider subscribing—your support helps make this journalism possible. Either way, we hope you enjoy the read. Click to subscribe: subscribing
{
"type": "gallery",
"attrs": {
"title": null
},
"content": [
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12411",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/tzYa6TgfWbnk4gI4RNIa71Q1lwt1RackINHZ6kX92lPDIptibJLFdakZvkT1dsJQcTrzwzfDwgQkPQxYaFhRfeEytCM=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A miner with his face spattered with mud from working in a gold mine.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12412",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/D9gh2Q8v6b7Q6KboDJJZdviy03Z_H23Lj5gAWw4Plc9YPiv18N-6ivCkn45BoFEwGlUwjd7ccFfBu17Wgc-LQgpegQ=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Men pan for gold while a supervisor looks on.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12413",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/gfnlSQqkqD52AhjS_5wF-3ZavFHvZViVRQrkJQF2iYRCSAEh4l3G7szoRr1K_O3OFQgj6s0UxEPMatw1pipEP7iOww=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Men pan for gold in a small-scale mine in the Manica Province of Mozambique.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12414",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/DBbG8cOHMb370O-8a_UpH5DuywxZ8JZRsiDpL0dZOusd_JZwO1sQKQbaIpOtckgW1mFDQFJ5OrDpbgz3GM88vAsIVA=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Ten metres beneath the surface, a man digs out earth he hopes will contain gold. Working at the bottom of an unstable mineshaft can be hazardous—many miners are killed when the shafts collapse.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12415",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/NUbB0y8uahwEyhiW6Le1LHh-W_kElkcjzlzOpTCOVgqif-Cg6frWJE-RNnQDffnpd5PRKTMTxPjYiFBu68po7Hw88A=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A man emerges from a narrow mineshaft in Manica.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1920,
"w": 1280,
"id": "12416",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/3Xo0cwE7uvTI7u50bJat1XB0yIeeA-3yq9BQZHPlatHkfe2jWMefBiegG5YS6-hPUjVYMdfFW3wdpQCnATf5phDWDLU=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Working 10 metres beneath the surface inside an unbuttressed vertical mineshaft, a miner bathes his face in the sunlight streaming in through the opening.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12417",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/ipyCRyQmMxuuc8QJvCqZ4GVa6P5__yvzqoGrcklnykPr7dUHt2IV73fCxngUsSIYn5xAe4AeJB8lYTBhIUgOOkcAOA=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A man pans for gold in a small settling basin at a small-scale mine.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12418",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/kuwN3FkOdRRGeg9zMQLEutO4xmdpU8KGIS9wD4jiPwlA2gKM_GpIDJf0IFzqW32RUGKSqUa-JOnBtkzy8ct6XIWu1Q=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Miners at a small-scale gold mine in Manica.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12419",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/FH_vLm1FctdzWHGCmzbUflXOJonEcxrCmCaoX1cosXPp7EoTMmw1Bx9Iqrxc0sAhEiqp_aW8aWY6Z4eL6_f33MbF=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A miner holds a 200 metical bank note (roughly $7.50) that cradles a few grains of gold extracted from a mine in Manica.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12420",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/omF1U7LaRuuES2iAqyygAwDvULy8bksqZNok4Gd1_rGuN8o44BxitQae2JIxBwy_Wy2tUPwWqYOJuhsMllKB-qxE=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Men drinking and dancing in a makeshift village built near the site of a gold mine in Manica.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12421",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/mJgWjIZSWqbfcimPrvmUN8BzAgr-qHhM4Td0i-q-fJoShxn5ii09gUWnx0CUE_OSZZqAT76WodlNpc58kTK5eHY5dw=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Barbecued mice for sale near a gold mine.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12422",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wvv1ZSkkXV4jfALcTEa4Rd7hmqh_sZR8myB2A9bZXuG9AMSdYi9ubvIbGi3WUHtI-eQJP0_m222QGX6JnX1BTgwA=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Children pan for gold in a small-scale mine",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12423",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/Sk1Zy2fzh5DPe-D2s9QfBNAz8Oj5j-AR1XRxJQfB40mOHUicbgIuRoeIjoiE0GEO1Sv-XwfMXmLiCNEqFg2I5rejSA=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Workers at a small-scale gold mine warm themselves around a fire. The mornings can be bitterly cold and the afternoons burning hot at Manica.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12424",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/XwzZAU09XUGoB1fIHgOe3CdUNPRV5HkTxecSoUefQh30_S1y0mnt-JeAyFFLPcsll_vhEcvWKwlapycrXKu9M9SN=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "A miner holds a globule of mercury, which is used to extract gold. Handling mercury without protective gear makes the job extremely toxic.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12425",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/k88B8-EmHvX7X_vSM1quhSwypZLb2i50dhFNqxDPJSsNAgTA1Oov5aSlwlZFC83SjlXqMUnDW3UaAts31VhJO2nL=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Two women collect water from a mercury-polluted water source by a makeshift village near the site of a mine.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"type": "figure",
"attrs": {
"h": 1280,
"w": 1920,
"id": "12426",
"src": "//lh3.googleusercontent.com/3CdqMszOaJ1u3Q0XErBgvCLukzHFfM2xg6tjw1H-M1iQjPHUJv_5c4DKH93wfUMcU5nd2XBwCABbG1TVBv7x0DNu=s0"
},
"content": [
{
"type": "caption",
"content": [
{
"text": "Miners carry supplies to a gold mine in Manica.",
"type": "text"
}
]
},
{
"type": "credit",
"content": [
{
"text": "{{name}}",
"type": "text"
}
]
}
]
}
]
} EXHAUSTED AND CAKED in red mud, they plough wearily on, searching toxic water for traces of gold. Some glance west from where they fled, across the border in Zimbabwe, towards home. There, the life of miners is even harder. At least there are no soldiers standing over them with assault rifles here in the gold mines of the Manica Province in Mozambique.
Whole families have crossed the border from Zimbabwe to join the hunt for treasure and to escape hunger and political strife. Not so long ago the country was the breadbasket of southern Africa—Mozambicans would cross into Zimbabwe looking for work, but now it is the other way round. The economy of Zimbabwe has declined rapidly in the past decade, resulting in widespread poverty and skyrocketing unemployment. Some attribute the devastation to the country’s role in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as to land reform policies implemented by President Robert Mugabe after 2000. Others claim that sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to Mugabe’s controversial policies have crippled the economy.
In the mines of Manica, flakes of gold are exchanged for the local currency, the metical (MT 26.99 = $1), but much of that hard-earned cash doesn’t make it out. Alongside the gold trade is another bustling business—alcohol, the curse of miners in developing countries around the world. The drink of choice here is straight gin. The families of some of these artisinal miners wait under makeshift stick huts and eat barbequed mice while the men dance and drink away their earnings. Much of the hard-earned benefits of this risky occupation never make it to their intended recipients, the family members back in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world. Discovering gold, if the profits are not all drunk, can literally save lives. But the search destroys lives, too. Diggers handle toxic mercury without protective gear to extract gold from the red earth. They risk suffocation at the bottom of fragile mineshafts that at times collapse and all too often bury occupants.
A few find enough gold to change their lives, but most do not. Many become ill and some pay the ultimate price in their search for gold.
Thanks for reading till the end. If you valued this piece, and you're already a subscriber, consider contributing to keep us afloat—so more readers can access work like this. Click to make a contribution: Contribute