Small-scale gold miners in Senegal use mercury despite health risks

There are thousands of hopeful gold miners in the village of Bantako, deep in the south-east of Senegal.

In the past 20 years, it has become one of the hotspots for prospectors in the region, hoping to find a speck of gold.

Due to geopolitical tensions and the unrest surrounding US President Donald Trump's trade policy, the gold price has risen to record highs.

But despite the skyrocketing price, these miners are not getting rich, often being paid only a fraction of the world market price by traders.

Prospector Amadou Diallo, says life is a gamble.

“It’s not that deep, you know. About 10 or 15 metres. Wherever we are, we have to work anyway. You have to seize your opportunities,” he says.

But gold extraction in the region is based on a dangerous practice.  Miners are poisoning the land by using mercury to bind the small gold pieces together.

After it has bonded to the pieces, its taken to a dealer who burns the mercury off with a blowtorch. What remains is a shiny lump of gold.

The environmental impact has been enormous.

Farmer and environmental activist, Doudou Drama, says they can no longer grow crops because the soil is contaminated.

“It’s really a great sadness for me to see the trees die. Mercury is very dangerous product. It poisons the soil. It poisons the air. And it can cause lung diseases and deformities in babies.”

Despite the health concerns, as long as there's no good alternative to gold extraction, the miners say they will not stop using it.

The Senegalese government has been trying for years to ban the use of mercury, without success.