On Wednesday, Oct 29, we went to an artisanal gold mine site (see title) and below you will see photos from two mines - the first one starts with a drop down and then into a tunnel. After shots of lots of people speaking (the Mwami's wife - that is, the traditional leader; the Minister of Mines, and one of our delegation, emphasizing the importance of Responsible Mine Trade, then you'll see photos of a "walk in" site, where we could go farther in, and in which one of our group went in to the point of there being too little oxygen, and he was helped out...this site is operated by a Cooperative that has received training from a USAID funded project, and has been demilitarized and received support from the German equivalent of the USGS. We hope it will be a good candidate to become a pilot site to demonstrate Responsible Minerals Trade. Gold is among the toughest minerals to put to that test, as it is so much higher value for small quantity than others - a pocketful is worth a LOT!
