MINES OF GOLD AND DIAMOND IN GUINEA CONAKRY by Jordi Burch (28 images)

DOWNLOAD

DISPLAY OPTIONS

Every morning Marinfim Madu goes to the gold mine outside the village of Balandougou, on the north of Guinea, nearly Mali. By his hands and feet, he goes inside the earth to pick up little pieces of gold.
There´s no technology. He and all the villagers live today like in the past five centuries. All of them are still poor.
Guinea is rich in gold, diamonds, bauxite and uranium, but still remains an underdeveloped country.
Diamonds are everywhere in the Banankoro...
more »

Every morning Marinfim Madu goes to the gold mine outside the village of Balandougou, on the north of Guinea, nearly Mali. By his hands and feet, he goes inside the earth to pick up little pieces of gold.
There´s no technology. He and all the villagers live today like in the past five centuries. All of them are still poor.
Guinea is rich in gold, diamonds, bauxite and uranium, but still remains an underdeveloped country.
Diamonds are everywhere in the Banankoro region, near by the border with Sierra Leoa and Liberia. Everyday, people go to the diamond places looking for a bright stone. Most of them never get one. In Banankoro´s town, there´s a street market of diamonds. Day and night people buy and sell diamonds, big ones and little ones. It´s an intense business with traditional discussions.
In this report, there is a Portuguese/Guinea company looking for diamonds. After two days of work, they found out a diamond of 50.000 euros. It was a special moment. But before that, they had to kill a cow as a sacrifice for the Muslim god.
©Jordi Burch/2008
« less