" Senegal's gold rush: More wealth, but at what cost?" 17 January 2024

In the Kedougou region of southeastern Senegal, the gold rush starts just after dawn when the heat is still bearable and the sun is clement. Near the village of Samekouta, men with tired faces park their motorbikes on the edge of a vast, rocky plot of land surrounded by trees and high grass. Their clothes are covered in rust-colored dust. 

The artisanal mine comprises narrow black holes into which miners disappear with a swift hop. A permanent background noise of jackhammers and electricity generators covers their sparse conversations. The men are from Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. [...] Kedougou, one of the poorest regions of Senegal, is home to over 20 nationalities. Foreigners, mainly from other countries in West Africa, come to Kedougou to try their luck in striking gold. The gold rush has come at the expense of the locals, some of whom have seen parts of their land grabbed and their environment polluted. Cisse told DW his village has lost considerable land since a Chinese company set up a semi-mechanized mine on its outskirts. Power shovels now tirelessly excavate mounds of orange sand in the area where Faranging residents used to grow cereals and vegetables or search for gold. [...]

Residents say they get little compensation, and industrial mining companies don't offer enough jobs for locals. In a region where unemployment is rampant, gold mining has become an indispensable source of income. Amadou Sega Keita, vice president of Kedougou's departmental council, says around 300,000 people currently work in the mines, mostly on artisanal or clandestine sites. "You find people with master's degrees there," Keita told DW.