Manica, Mozambique, 27/01/2024 - Aerial view of the Púngué River, highly turbid with mud from the artisanal gold mining process, that washes raw ore to sift heavy gold particles. Despite the high leves of turbidity, people in the local communities still use this water to drink and cook, for lack of other options. Púnguè is the biggest water supply of Beira, one of the biggest cities in the country.

Manica, Mozambique, 21/02/2024 - Wildcat miners (Garimpeiros) pan the raw ore of the days’ labour using mercury to amalgamate the gold particles in an open pit mine in the community of Mutomboumwe.

Manica, Mozambique, 09/02/2024 - Wildcat miners dig for gold in what once were agricultural fields in the community of Andrada. Despite being promised restitution of their fields, the excavated grounds are now barren and full of rocks, rendering them unfit for agriculture.

Manica, Mozambique, 07/02/2024 - Freedom (center front), 17 years old, along with some friends from his home village in Sussundenga, has teamed with older and more experienced miners in the village of Munhena, hoping to earn the necessary money to go back to school and help sustain their families.

Manica, Mozambique, 02/02/2024 - Jaime (left), 14, Filipe (center), 9, and Bernardo (right), 13, are the children of garimpeiros, Portuguese for wildcat miners, and say they have been gold mining for many years to help sustain their family.

Manica, Mozambique, 24/01/2024 - Two brothers, aged 15 and 10 years old, who didn’t want to disclose their names, are digging for gold in a field of the Púnguè valley that was flooded by rain. “We are here trying to help our family to buy food,” they say, sharing that they can extract between 1.5 to 2 grams of gold a week, which they sell to informal buyers for approximately $45 USD a gram.

Manica, Mozambique, 05/02/2024 - In the vicinity of the river valleys, in areas not yet explored by industrial-size mining companies, wildcat miners dig wells up to 20 meters deep. They take 8-hour shifts digging tunnels from the bottom of the well, pumping out water with diesel compressors and injecting oxygen with a rudimentary blower and PVC pipes. The collapse of tunnels dug in these clay soil is frequent, and miners are often buried alive inside the shaft.

Manica, Mozambique, 05/02/2024 - Praise, a 25-year-old miner from neighboring Zimbabwe, after an eight-hour shift inside the shaft he and his team are extracting gold from, on a forest field near an industrial mine operation, in Penhalonga.

Manica, Mozambique, 02/02/2024 - Jaime (left), 14, Bernardo (center), 13, and Filipe (right), 9, look inside the pan as the older of three brothers washes the sediments and ensures that the mercury in the pan amalgamates any existing gold.

Manica, Mozambique, 06/02/2024 - A miner exhibits the mercury and gold amalgam that resulted from that day's labor in the community of Munhena. Unaware of the health risks associated with mercury, miners use nearby bonfires intended for cooking to roast the amalgam without any precautions, even going as far as putting the remaining gold hot nugget in their mouth to cool it down.

Manica, Mozambique, 21/02/2024 - A miner crosses over a fallen tree carrying a bag of raw ore to reach the grinding mill across the river in Mutombomwe.

Manica, Mozambique, 02/02/2024 - A scale with a gold nugget, the result of a day's labour in the Munhena mine.

Manica, Mozambique, 06/02/2024 - A wildcat miner, known in Portuguese as “Garimpeiro,” is seen working in what used to be agricultural fields before farmers were expelled in 2020 by industrial mining companies, in the village of Mutsinza.

Manica, Mozambique, 02/02/2024 - Freedom (left), 17, Goni (center), 20, and Richaud (right), 18, have come from the neighboring mining district of Sussundenga for the second consecutive year. “This is a country where you can’t dream,” one of them says, but still, they are trying to earn enough money to go back to school, hoping of one day becoming a soldier or a policeman.

Manica, Mozambique, 23/01/2024 - A group of young boys bathing in the Mavuzi river, near the South Púnguè river village. This is one of the few rivers in the region that has not yet turned completely turbid from gold mining.

Manica, Mozambique, 26/01/2024 - A young girl watches the Mavuzi river from a bridge in South Púnguè village. Access to clean water is essential for the survival of the communities along the river shores, as it is needed for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing, and watering crops. Regardless, the national laboratory analysis reveals that drinking water supplied from river sources is not tested for mercury, cyanide, or other contaminants.

Manica, Mozambique, 26/01/2024 - Women washing clothes and bathing their children in the Mavuzi River, a small affluent of the Púnguè River, and one of the few in the region that has not yet turned turbid due to gold mining. Access to clean water is detrimental to the survival of the communities along the river shores, as it is needed for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing, and watering crops. The Mavuzi river is one of the few rivers in the region that has not yet turned completely turbid from gold mining.

Manica, Mozambique, 07/02/2024 - A miner working a night shift in the village of Munhena. Water is needed for washing and sifting the raw ore, but the intense mining activity in the region and the lack of rain have made access to water difficult. Miners started working night shifts so they could manage the water gathered during the day.

Manica, Mozambique, 07/02/2024 - Wildcat miners, or “garimpeiros,” will often live in makeshift tents in the mines for up to three months at a time, trying to avoid spending money on transportation and saving a larger sum before going to visit their families.

Manica, Mozambique, 12/02/2024 - After a day's work, a group of miners get together in a local brothel, Sanganay, in the village of Penhalonga.

Manica, Mozambique, 24/02/2024 - A view of daily life in the village of Mharidza through the reflection of a window.

Manica, Mozambique, 25/02/2024 - Clothes drying on a fence covering a mine shaft in the backyard of a family house in the village of Mharidza.

Manica, Mozambique, 15/02/2024 - Ruarache, 24 years old, sleeping at home with his son Gerson (right), aged 3, while her niece, Sofia, plays in the background. Gerson has an unidentified neurological problem where he can’t hold his head up straight and lacks the coordination to pick up objects, crawl, or speak. His father, Romio, aged 28, who has been a wildcat miner dealing with mercury since 2016, says they’ve tried traditional treatments, hoping they would heal Gerson, but to no avail. Since Gerson was born, Ruarache has been unable to do any kind of work, as that would leave Gerson unattended. From Romio’s gold mining, the family has around $14 USD a week for their spending.

Manica, Mozambique, 24/02/2024 - Children run towards a minibus, hoping to sell a lamb to arriving passengers in the Mharidza village.

Manica, Mozambique, 24/02/2024 - Delton Paulo, 14 years old, has severe cerebral palsy and deformities in the legs and feet. Doctors were unable to diagnose him and, from a young age, recommended doing physiotherapy, which his family could not follow through because they could not afford the transportation to the city of Manica. Delton attends the 7th grade in school and likes to play football. His mother, Gertrudes, carries him to school every day.

Manica, Mozambique, 18/02/2024 - Women mourn the passing of Miguel, a community member who did not survive complications of chronic disease in Chadzuka.

Manica, Mozambique, 18/02/2024 - The community gathers to pray during a traditional funeral in Chadzuka. Religion plays a big role in providing structure and a sense of community to these populations, who often feel neglected and abandoned by their governments.

Manica, Mozambique, 07/02/2024 - Overview of a mining site in Munhena. Although mining is mainly a male-dominated activity, it’s common to find women and children in the mines, especially in the afternoon, after they have completed the domestic chores around the house, culturally assigned exclusively to women.

Manica, Mozambique, 26/01/2024 - Portrait of José João Dique, aged 24, who was born partially blind, in the South Púnguè village. Organic mercury has been proven to severely affect psychomotor and neurological development in children, as well as causing degenerative ophthalmologic diseases, like cataracts. Developing fetuses are especially susceptible to mercury poisoning and often absorb mercury levels from the mother during pregnancy.