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The gold rush has only four months in Nathenje, Malawi, but thousands of prospectors are digging, shoveling and sifting soil in the secular search for a nugget that will transform their lives.
"Iyi, iyi" ("Here, Here!") Is the cry when an enthusiastic miner spots a grain of precious metal and others eagerly gather on the site, 20 km south of the capital Lilongwe .
Traders from neighboring countries have paid up to 34 dollars a gram for gold, according to a local official.
But you have to find it first. And much of the hard work done here, in hot temperatures, only brings disappointment.
The miners, many of them women, come down the holes dug by the Nathenje River.
They emerge with buckets on their heads and, after the silt has been transported by truck for a short distance to a drier soil, carefully pour the moist earth on a sieve to wash the sediments and examine the remains at looking for traces of gold.
Gold price
Tandizeni Natani hardly knew what was the gold when she and her fellow villagers left their fields to join the sudden mining boom.
"All I knew was that it was a precious stone," AFP told AFP the mother of five children, the youngest of whom was three years old.
"The first day, I earned 25,000 kwacha (34 dollars) and up to now 100,000 kwacha, which allowed me to buy school supplies for my children. "
Another villager, Fatima Chikalipo, said she bought a plot of about 7 meters. Until now, she had known various fortunes.
"The first days were good, but now we dig sometimes and find nothing, so I have not seen any tangible benefits yet," she said.
"And the price of gold has gone down, before we sold 25,000 kwacha per gram, now buyers are offering 20,000 kwacha."
Using rudimentary picks and shovels, villagers from nearby Lumwira and Dzondi settlements were joined by other Malawians from around the country who were more experienced in gold washing.
An informal system of bosses and employees has also emerged, along with a makeshift collection of plastic shelters offering basic accommodation.
"It's a lot of work," said local man, Misheck Chilayison, who bought a lot for $ 55.
"We pay the women who transport the land and the trucks to transport the sand from the banks to the workers who wash the ground to look for gold."
Chilayison said the gold rush began as news spread that an Indian living in Lilongwe had arrived in Nathenje and had begun digging, apparently armed with geological research.
"After a while, he ran away because the police were looking for him because he did not have a work permit, but he left two of his men here who brought a couple of their friends," he said. he told AFP.
The traditional village chief Katondo – who uses only one name – told AFP that the discovery of gold was a blessing for the region.
"This is a huge relief for us, so we all gather here because the harvest has been bad this year," he said.
"There would be severe hunger, now people are earning money and they can buy corn to feed their families."
But the illegal exploitation of gold is a dangerous business and the government wants to regulate the industry to generate revenue.
"The government is formalizing illegal mining," said Jalf Salima, director of the government's mining activities, adding that licenses would be introduced and illegal miners would be deported.
Salima said that the quality of gold in Nathenje and in five other sites of the gold rush in Malawi was not known, and that more exploration was needed as the Gold in the silt of the river had been washed downstream from its source.
British colonial leaders undertook a geological survey in 1960, shortly before Nyasaland – as it was called at the time – became independent, but few studies have been done since.
Percy Maleta, chairman of the Nyasa Mining Cooperative, said the authorities needed to end the illegal exploitation of gold and develop a long-term strategy to exploit the reserves successfully.
"We lobbied the government to train local miners so that they could form cooperatives or mining clubs, which would enable them to better equip themselves and sell their homes. in the formal market, "he said.
"Buyers are bringing gold out of the country by illegal routes, so Malawi is losing a lot of our gold."
He said buyers came mainly from neighboring Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, buying gold between $ 24 and $ 34 a gram.
For now, Damino Matenga, an intermediate buyer from southern Malawi to Nathenje, wants things to continue as they are.
"Business is so good that I can feed my family and send my kids to school," he said.
"It's real gold and we have no problem with international buyers."
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