Before It’s “GOLD”…..there’s “MUD”
A gold miner is seen mixing muddy soil at a gold mining pit in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A gold miner is seen extracting sandy soil from a gold mining pit in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
Gold miners are seen extracting sandy soil from a gold mining pit in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A gold miner is seen sieving gold crystals from Muddy water in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
Gold miners are seen sieving gold crystals from Muddy water in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A gold miner packs sandy soils inside a from a tunnel, about 60 feet below the ground at gold mining pit in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A miner carries a sack of sandy soil on a bicycle to be ground and sieved for gold crystals in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A gold miner displays a bottle of mercury which is used to attract gold crystals from the excavated sandy soils at a gold mining pit in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A miner stands at the top of a gold mining pit. The gold pit sites scattered across the different villages of Bugiri from where sandy soils are extracted measure up to 60 feet down. When the soils are extracted, the miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
A gold miner displays gold pallets at a gold mining pit in Bugiri 348km (216miles) east of Kampala, Uganda’s capital on February 5, 2013. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix the content with mercury to attract gold. It’s later heated to separate the gold. The gold is sold to local brokers who in turn market it to the international market.
Edward Echwalu - Documentary Photographer 
These photographs are beautiful!
Thank you! Appreciated!
Beautiful shots
Thank you Kevin for the visit
GREAT work!
The last shot reveals the injuries the hands of the miner has sustained in the attempt to separate the GOLD from MUD.
Pius, i think Mercury has an effect on the skin. Too much exposure to it eventually affects the skin
These shots are epic… so rich…
Thank you Bear
An extraordinary series – pictures of great power and poignant detail. The man in his tunnel … it’s seared into my mind.
Curving out a living is not the easiest thing for these people. But the returns from the gold has given them a head start..Many of them have invested in land, bought houses among other things..
You have always incredible and beautiful photographs, your post extraordinary. Congratulations.
Its really good to have you always come, check out my posts and leave behind very encouraging words. i really appreciate
Another extraordinary and educational post. Thanks for sharing your beautifully intriguing photographs.
I am curious as to the effects of the use of raw mercury on the local population: are there high rates of cancer?
Harris, I could call it “lucky”. Not many of these people suffer from some of these chronicle diseases. Long term, most of them suffer from chest pains. Apart from that, they are very healthy people
That last shot gave me goosebumps. These are really amazing Edward, great job. I have this skin allergy where the Dr told me if I want to wear jewelry, it has to be genuine gold. I gave up on jewelry, because duh, I can’t afford real gold. But looking at these pictures, it’s eerie the way we associate gold with luxury and decadence. I mean, wow.
Ishta,
Sorry about your skin allergies, but maybe, we need to travel to Bugiri and you get your hands on genuine gold. U know, getting that last picture was a hassle. Thats how i was remind that “GOLD IS VALUABLE”. No one wanted to come out in the open to display their catch. I only go lucky when i bumped into this fella who also looked super scared.
You can imagine, the location of these minds are some kilometers deep in the villages but the residents there told me, Business men from Kenya in Range Rovers, Land Rover, Tundras drive there to buy the gold….
So its a big business! But exactly, we associate GOLD with luxury but when you look back at how we get there, you wont believe it…Find a day, we drive there and you see for yourself…Right?
Reblogged this on africanperspectivesblog.
Wow! What a wonderful photo journal! I enjoyed all of the photos. I spent a month in Uganda and was not aware of the gold mining.
Not so many people have an idea there is actually gold mining because it happens on a really small scale! The process of extracting the gold is what is the most amazing bit…Its a real hassle
Great photos. Very interesting report.
…and thank you for visiting Antonio. Looking forward to many more visits from you
Beautiful pictures.
Ecstatic! this is real golo. Great Images as alwaysas always
Thank you!
I love your work. Your photos enrich what are already very powerful stories.
You know when its a hobby, everything else comes into the right place. I appreciate your kind words. Am encouraged even more
Beautiful and heart rending. It is very hard to create something visually attractive without removing the dignity of the participants. Congratulations!
Impressive read an pictures!
This is great, the pictures are so natural
Whoa there, Ed!! Back up one minute!!
Gold mining? In Uganda?
I had no clue!!
Mizpage,
You want me to to see how the gold is mined? Talk to me well, i know where the real gold is…
You must have had the patience of a Gold miner yourself to finally capture Gold in someone’s hands. Nice work
Morgan, patience is one. And goodluck is another. People extract a lot of gold but are naive to display them! They are everyones hidden treasures. You never get to see them anyhow.
Great angle to look at the life of these hard working and life fighting gold miners. All the photoes look very nice and beautifull.
Thank you CK for dropping by. Appreciated!!!
Stupendous!
Keep up the good work. Oh, it must be hard to be a gold miner.
Its indeed a very hard task. Very hard task. Wish you could see it by yourself. You would believe
Reblogged this on flamer0n.
Mercury is very poison ous isn’t it.. Great story and photos again Edward
It is very poisonous! But i guess many have become resistant to it
I belive the poison is slow acting so who knows what long term damage is being done? Mercury used to be in thermometers here in the UK but was banned some years ago because of its poisonous nature.
Wow… Great photos….
Appreciated!
Top class pictures! I really like the angles you’ve clicked these from.
Thank you Uday. Looking forward to seeing more of you here…
Amazing colors and use of selective focus!
wow, these are amazing. my favorite is the shovel and mud picture
Thank you for the reportage.
Last year I read a book taking place in sadiola, Mali. Thses workers and theirs families have huge health issues after a couple of years. I felt very bad by reading the book, but it’s nothing compare to what they endure.
L’Or nègre by Camille de Vitry can be download for free hier (french): http://tahin-party.org/textes/l-or-negre.pdf
Reblogged this on Andaman Saravanan.
wow!!! I think ur shots are as captivating as ur story. can’t seem to stop going thru them over and over.
Thank you for appreciating! Appreciated!