Senegal's Gold Rush Brings Hope And Despair

BANTAKOKOUTA, Senegal, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Mar, 2023 ) :Mohamed Bayoh climbed into the deep, pitch-black hole, hoping to emerge with a nugget that would change his life.

The 26-year-old Guinean is one of thousands of West Africans who have flocked to remote eastern Senegal in search of gold.

The rush for the precious metal has dramatically transformed Bantakokouta, a town on the borders of Mali and Guinea.

The locals numbered just a few dozen two decades ago, now there are several thousand on the back of a floating population of dream-seekers and risk-takers with gold in their eyes.

Over time, their ant-like labour has left the landscape looking like a Swiss cheese.

As far as the eye can see, through the pervasive dusty mist, small huddled groups protected from the sun by makeshift branch shelters haul up spoil scratched from the ground.

Women sit nearby, sorting the rocks into two mounds -- a big one for the discards and a much smaller one for the promising samples.

The same scenes are played out every day, with no guarantee of any success.

"Working here is like playing the lottery, you are never sure of winning," sighed Bayoh, who said he was nonetheless determined to stay put until he gets rich.

Other sites in the gold-rich region have been taken over by mining corporations, sometimes triggering land disputes with local people.

But in Bantakokouta, informal mining has been allowed to carry on.

Diggers stay typically stay for a few months -- sometimes just days -- to chance their arm, hoping for a lucky strike that will enable them to send money home or start a business.

Bayoh was clear in his objective: to "find a lot of gold," he said.

"Not a little... a lot. To start another life in Guinea."After six months' gruelling work, he had earned enough to buy two motorbikes.

One gramme (0.03 of an ounce) of gold -- roughly equivalent to 60 grains of rice -- brings in 30,000 CFA francs, or about $48.