Gold Mining III

Once the dirt is removed the sand is washed with powdered white mercury.








The mercury adheres to gold dust and is also heavier than the sand or water, so all the stirring moves this to the bottom of the basin. When all the sand is washed away, only the gold and mercury are left.













This mixture is placed into a cloth and wrung out tightly, forcing most of the mercury thru the cloth, leaving the gold dust and some mercury behind.









These small balls are carefully gathered up and collected for sale to brokers in Busia.





The sand is collected and taken back for re-pounding to attempt to retrieve more gold dust.

The work would go easier if they had some equipment, like a pump for removing the ground water from the caves and a gold metal detector to trace the ore veins. But in the meantime, they do what they can do and work very hard at it.

Gold Mining II

The rock pieces are bagged and carried by back or bicycle to a pounding place. There, with lead weighted metal poles the rocks are pulverized into fine sand, which is placed into large basins.






















These basins are taken to the nearby “river”, actually a small stream this time of year, with pools of water. The basins are wetted with water, held just below the surface and the dirt is washed away. Gold particles and the sand it adheres to are heavier than the dust and dirt and water.

Gold Mining I

One labor intensive industry that supports some families in the “off” season from agriculture is digging for gold. The process here is detailed with pictures as it is very different from what was initially used in CA 170 years back.
Rock is dug out of the ground by pick and hammer, sometimes creating 15' deep caves/tunnels. This cavern was made over a 2 year period. It curves to follow the band of rock containing the gold.




The ground water that comes in is removed by buckets or basins. The same containers are used to lift out the ore and rocks broken loose by the miners.

Family History

Josephine, 58, and her brother Moses, 81, are the surviving children from a family that had only 4 kids. Their father was very progressive in that he gave land to his daughters as well as his sons. Moses has had 4 different wives, with 15 children altogether. His last wife left him with 4 kids and ran off to another man. The youngest and next youngest are with him. The 5 year old is very independent and has abilities beyond his age, able to make a fire and cook porridge. The 12 year old is learning to drive a boda-boda and makes 2-4,000/= a day when there is work.

Josephine has 3 daughters, one in the US, one in Norway and one in Uganda. She lives in Kampala, fairly near to the former eMi office, but her heart is clearly in this village and with her family here.