A video has gone viral showing a gold rush drawing thousands to a village in Congo’s South Kivu province, forcing the authorities to ban mining in the area.
According to Reuters reports, the discovery of gold-rich ore in Luhihi in late February brought throngs of diggers to the site, South Kivu Mines Minister Venant Burume Muhigirwa said, putting pressure on the small village around 50 km (30 miles) from the provincial capital, Bukavu.
The moment of washing the dirt and extracting the gold. #Congo pic.twitter.com/7L1V1Clm30
— Ahmad Algohbary (@AhmadAlgohbary) March 2, 2021
Subsistence mining – extracting minerals with rudimentary tools – is common across Democratic Republic of Congo, and “artisanal” mining is especially widespread in the gold-producing east and northeast of the country.
A video of villagers thronging the village was shared on social media with a caption: “A video from the Republic of the Congo documents the biggest surprise for some villagers in this country, as an entire mountain filled with gold was discovered! They dig the soil inside the gold deposits and take them to their homes in order to wash the dirt& extract the gold.”
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The clip shows the locals using shovels and other tools to dig the ground in a bid to extract the precious metal from the soil. Some were even seen using just their bare hands.
Another video was shared showing the locals washing the dirt off the precious metal and collecting them in metal containers was also shared on social media.
