A Sympathetic Look At Artisanal Mining

Exploration companies with properties in Africa use artisanal mining as a way of spotting a deposit worth exploring further. Not much is written about artisanal miners, but an article about a Keynian riverside site gives a glimpse into the lives of people who depend on gold for their meals:

For many people at the site, the gold is all they have to put food on their tables, their only source of hope. “We lost all our livestock to the cattle rustlers. We have nothing left,” a desperate Richard says.

Raiding is very common in the area. “For more than 15 years now, the two neighbouring communities of Pokot and the Turkana have been fighting over water, pasture and cattle,” says Sarah Lochodo area assistant chief. Even so, the ‘miners’ here attribute their gold mining skills to the Pokot. [These people are Marakwet.]

Right now the community is enjoying a moment of peace, but suspicion continues to hang in the air. “If fighting erupts now, we will be forced to flee and we will not be able to come and dig the gold,” says Richard.

Many lives have been lost in battles and counter attacks. Ekai Echwa, 20, is from the Turkana community. His parents were allegedly killed by Pokot raiders.

“They (the Pokot) killed my father in 2006,” Ekai says. A year later my mother was killed too. “They took all our goats.”

It's a hardscrabble life, at least in this part of Africa. Other artisanal miners may be making a good living.