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GUYANA | Friday, 5 July 2013 | Views [1160] | View Smaller Image

Heave Boys, Heave! Brute strength and cunning rule out here. These men work for the boss-man who owns the dredge they pull. Some might have a share in the operation; others take their chances offering their daily labour on speculation that the boss-man's claim may hit pay dirt. Each day they face a myriad of occupational hazards including deafening dredges, powerful hydraulic monitors with the potential to whip out of control and kill in an instant, dengue fever from daytime-biting mosquitoes and the ever present threat of mercury. By night if it's not the drunken riot of a disaffected miner, then it's the evening's malaria-carrying mosquitoes that keep the Guyanese pork-knocker on their toes at all times. [Kamwatta Creek, Eyelash backdam, The North West Districts, Guyana]

Tags: guyana gold mining

Self-made Men:
Just a stone's throw from the site of the infamous Jonestown massacre of 1979, pork-knockers (artisanal miners) Kurth Rodney (right) and his off-sider come seeking their fortunes. They're a small outfit, working for themselves and chasing the derelict ponds and gravel pits the bigger operators leave behind. Guyana’s population of 756,000 live mainly on its inundated Caribbean coastline. Kurth, like so many young unemployed residents from the capital Georgetown, sees a stint in the backdam, despite its social and environmental hazards, as a way to make some quick money. Unfortunately, the backdam, because of its lawlessness, also attracts a strong criminal element. One way to make it harder for your gold to be stolen in these thievish frontiers is to wear it in your mouth. Sporting glistening front teeth of gold Kurth's wry smile says it all: This is MY safety deposit box.
[Five Star backdam, The North West Districts, Guyana]

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Miner Sex:
'Bibi' (right) and her colleague 'Pakistani' are Guyanese sex workers. Plying their trade in these parts they face many of the same issues that the pork-knockers themselves face. But the added risks of STIs and violence place them in an even more vulnerable situation. The pair represent the vast majority of Guyana's ethnic mix. Indo-Guyanese, like 'Pakistani', make up 43% of the population, many of them descendent from the original indentured labourers arriving from East India between 100 and 175 years ago. While 30%, like 'Bibi', identify as descendents of black African slaves emancipated from their English masters 175 years ago. Here at Five Star backdam they're happy to swap a few stories amidst the background din of chainsaws felling towering jungle trees and diesel dredges churning alluvial slurry into sluice boxes. Their smiles reveal their golden dental work; flashy fashion statements perhaps, but moreover a tried-and-tested income security measure. It’s not uncommon to receive payments in gold from their pork-knocking clientele. And there's always a creative 'dentist' a few days away who can oblige.
[Clad Adams' Camp, Five Star backdam, The North West Districts, Guyana]

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