Uganda gold rush brings lucrative jobs and dangerous pollution
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Transcript
00:00 The Karamoja region, the driest in Uganda, also holds the country's biggest resource
00:04 of wealth.
00:05 This village's priority is to find gold in order to earn a bit of money to feed themselves.
00:12 Everything was going well for me but a tribe came and stole my cattle.
00:16 So I had no more money to support my family throughout the day.
00:19 I thought about stealing and killing but in the end I chose to work in the mine.
00:25 Like this artisan, Karamojang nomads in this gold-rich region also face tribal conflicts
00:30 and droughts.
00:31 Over the last decade, thousands have left their herds to work in the mines for better
00:35 profits and greater safety from extreme weather.
00:38 There are some small particles of gold seen in this car.
00:43 We have long droughts.
00:44 We experienced poor harvest this year.
00:47 So most of our people have come, fallen back to their mining sites.
00:50 When you have animals you are insecure.
00:52 But when you have small gold you are secure because you will take that gold to sell.
00:56 In 2022, the government announced the discovery of vast deposits in Karamoja.
01:01 The strategy is aimed at attracting investors but comes with consequences for the local
01:05 communities.
01:06 Many of them within this community have been affected by this acid.
01:12 According to this chairman, the children in his village are being exposed to mercury.
01:16 It is used to extract gold from rocks and is released into this river by the Chinese
01:20 company Evergrande, which established an operation in 2022.
01:25 Mostly these people when they are mining they are using the mercury.
01:27 That's why most of these rivers within this sub-country have been affected.
01:31 But we are not realising now, but maybe for some time people have been experiencing cancer
01:35 and abortion.
01:36 So actually this is a long-term issue.
01:40 Water pollution is only worsening in the region, where even artisanal miners use toxic substances
01:45 to extract valuable minerals more quickly.
01:48 (car engine revving)