In Bantako, a village in southeastern Senegal, thousands of small-scale gold miners continue to use mercury in their search for gold—despite the well-documented dangers to both health and the environment.
Over the past two decades, Bantako has become a hub for artisanal gold mining. Driven by global uncertainty and soaring gold prices, hopeful prospectors are drawn to the area, although few see real financial reward. Most miners receive only a fraction of the market value from local traders.
“It’s a gamble,” says prospector Amadou Diallo. “Wherever we are, we have to work anyway. You have to seize your opportunities.”
But the gold extraction process comes at a cost. Miners use mercury to bind tiny gold particles together, then heat the mixture with blowtorches to burn off the mercury—releasing toxic fumes and leaving behind raw gold. The process contaminates the soil, air, and water.
Local farmer and environmental activist Doudou Drama has witnessed the consequences firsthand. “It’s really a great sadness for me to see the trees die,” he laments. “Mercury poisons the soil, the air. It causes lung diseases and deformities in babies. We can’t grow crops anymore.”
Despite the severe risks, many miners say they have no choice but to continue. With no viable or affordable alternative method for gold extraction, mercury use remains widespread.
The Senegalese government has made repeated efforts to ban mercury use in mining, but enforcement has largely failed.
For now, the dangerous trade-off between survival and safety continues, leaving long-term damage in its wake.
