Gold rush in Mauritania | DW Documentary

Mauritania is the latest country in the Sahara where gold has been found. Thousands are hoping to strike it rich - but digging for gold is dangerous and impacts upon human health and the environment.
This is because to find gold, you need to dig extremely deep holes in the ground; and to extract the precious metal, you need toxic mercury. But that doesn’t put the gold diggers off at all. They compete for the best mining sites and within a short space of time, an entire settlement has sprung up on the desert sands. Michele Cattani went to take a look.
#documentary #dwdocumentary
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[@apocalypticweasel9078]

i have a feeling the only one who is gonna get rich is the shop owner doubling his prices for that large captive audience

[@someguy1559]

Lol I was laughing 'cause he was the only one who really understands how to get rich off a gold rush. It was the same way in California. The shop owners and service providers banked way more the average miner

[@apocalypticweasel9078]

@@someguy1559 I know right I feel like getting over there to set up a shop myself 😅

[@pumbajayden]

​@@someguy1559 real prospectors don't actually care, they just want to be free

[@MusicheadRick]

Also the ocean will become very rich. Soon fish are too toxic for human consumption. Good riddance we humans will wipe ourselves out.

[@nelsonchinasamy9857]

Very true, it has happened where ever gold was discovered. A few maybe found some gold. But the ones that got rich were the service providers.

[@nanzingdadi3205]

Finding GOLD is more easier than finding a VISA.. I totally agree with him on that 😂😂😂

[@weirdshibainu]

I live in Nevada, home to tens of dozens of ghost towns that were once thriving gold boom towns. Very few miners got rich, but the merchants did very well. Best of luck to these miners. Very dangerous work and unfortunately very poor environmental mining practices.

[@yourmom9608]

With that logic we have few lions left

[@eyespliced]

Yep. The best way to make money during a gold rush is from behind a store's countertop.

[@weirdshibainu]

@@yourmom9608 Who are the lions?

[@pwd7006]

@@weirdshibainu u will know until it sell at wealthiest place like milan or dubai and labeled as SAHARA GOLD

[@weirdshibainu]

@@pwd7006 It won't be labeled Sahara Gold

[@salem-gq9lt]

Thank you for your channel for shedding light on prospectors in Mauritania

[@mochalo4912]

Good Luck Mauritanian Brothers ,much love from Tunisia

[@beatrizcascelli]

Great video! Thanks for highlighting an issue that few people are aware of.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching:)

[@themticker562]

@@DWDocumentary great video, except there's a dust color grading makes it biased documentary. See at 10:43 to 10.44. it was clear then suddenly it changes color.

[@tkzsfen]

200m deep? By shoveling? This is insane!

[@feyikunmiayanbeku5922]

I love this documentary. I can watch it over and over again. Would like to make something like this someday.

[@DWDocumentary]

It’s great to hear that you like the docu. Good luck, we hope you can make that dream come true :)

[@medbouchanna9673]

@@DWDocumentary plz make docu about western sahara the conflet btwen morroco and algrie

[@yunuskadri3393]

Amazing documentary

[@albashir7140]

That was an awesome report❤

[@mdmaidulislamsafin6397]

I am a fan of the DW documentary. I am eagerly waiting for when the new documentary videos released.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for your support, we are glad you are enjoying our content :)

[@user-xn7md2rr8d]

DW Documentaries Best. Good job thanks guys 🎉🎉

[@DWDocumentary]

Thank you for watching :)

[@peterkops6431]

The mercury issue is huge. My time in gold mining made that extremely apparent. Small miners used mercury for final extraction and many ended their days in misery. I was lucky as my Dad had a long mining history so we took precautions others did not. It’s really bad stuff.

[@lostintashkent]

Dear Peter. Can we please speak or at least know more about your experience with mercury? I run a development aid project for artisanal miners in Mauritania and we have a problem with denial among the mining community.

[@peterkops6431]

@@lostintashkent Gloves and P3 rated masks. Always. Disposable overalls if possible. Dispose of clothing that has come into contact with mercury in a sealed container. Never let the mercury or water it is associated with run onto the ground. Sealed non corrosive drums to be used and buried with markers stating poisonous substances buried here. Mercury vapour deadly. Avoid at all costs.

[@alexgoslar4057]

Thanks for sharing these insights.

[@DWDocumentary]

Thank you for watching! We're glad you like our content.

[@rancu5720]

Thanks DW for the best documentary always. Very objective

[@metalextras]

Thank you DW! Gold's value will keep on increasing on this challenging time... Wishing them workers happiness in life...

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

they are poisoning themselves and the region with the mercury spills and vapour. and mercury is an extremely persistent poison since it's a poisonous element, so the area is basly impacted for centuries to come. the video mentions that this is upstream of major fishing grounds, that cod harm mauritania more than the gols is worth. these people are trying to get rich at everybody else's expense. though of course the main change should be the government oeganising a switch to mining methods that don't involve mercury - those are not as easy for an individual niner to do, but when done at scale, they are very economically viable and are industry standard in any reasonable country.

[@kandakatlaraviteja4579]

Good informative documentary

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching and commenting:)

[@MSMS-ug3zu]

It raises many questions -- for so many years, international organizations have been advocating for education and lending a huge amount of money to countries such as Mauritania. But like this guy in the film who went up to the university level but could not find a job. So many people are struggling, despite of so-called "development projects". I hope to see those international organizations especially UN agencies held accountable one day.

[@priyv8710]

Exactly...where are those projects for created for development of underprivileged goes to when the actual people don't get even get the chance to fulfill their dreams

[@corneliankoaze9717]

What have UN agencies to do with the lack of development plans of the government in Mauretania?

[@MSMS-ug3zu]

@@corneliankoaze9717 It's UN agencies such as UNDP and UNICEF which dominate and dictate country's development plan. They have 'development plans', but are not necessarily relevant nor effective.

[@tomhenry897]

Never happen

[@albejaine]

@@MSMS-ug3zu They man try to dictate but they surely do not dominate.

[@danielyang3995]

Best hope to these hardworking people!

[@indianintuitiontarot5]

Informative video

[@anthonymcneill1465]

I enjoyed watching and learned much about their methods of mining gold in Mauritania and the risks, even the dangers involved. I send best wishes to them for all their diligent work in pursuing their dreams.

[@l.d.t.6327]

Unfortunately, their dreams, as in other parts of the world where poor people look for gold, cause a lot of misery, environmental pollution, deforestation and deaths among the poorly equipped miners.

[@Civil.servant.PK92]

Did you see how it is mined in Chad & west africa ?? Which then goes for refining in Switzerland and sold with their brand name

[@Ptitnain2]

They all gonna die in poverty.

[@AfricanMaverick]

Ghana empire used to get its gold from there.

[@gre894]

@@AfricanMaverick I guess ”empire” is a relative term

[@JIJO333]

DW the Best!

[@Mhao_odyuo]

Can you please upload the full documentary?

[@faebalina7786]

I really hope these people become better resourced resourced and organised because there is no reason so many are still poor So their not selling below market price and being cut out of real profit It’s sad.Especially when big companies strike deals and buy the land.

[@After_Pasta]

dude with the store is the real genius

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Another wonderful documentary video shared by DW (DW )Documentary Channel .......video clearly showed desperate economic circumstances in Mauritania. Are that primary mining method donating successfully, usefully outcome from economy prospective? ...

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@jurynalivaiko4718]

beautiful documentary! Can somebody pls recognise that music track at the end of documentary?

[@krishnansrinivasan830]

Nice & Informative :)

[@DWDocumentary]

Thanks for watching:)

[@arbykane7158]

I was doing sensibilisation for HSE and also me and my team we trained lot of artisanal miners in Chami for free mercurey process.

[@BroodingPeeps]

Any idea what's the bass instrumental playing in the background?

[@zenwisdom4259]

Hope is what drives people

[@rusticfox4283]

omg it looks like the movie holes form above.

[@marktime9235]

One word ... scary .... on many different levels

[@darkstar18498]

Human greed is why life on earth is hard and dangerous.

[@jorgealbertobarbosalimamar983]

anyone knows the name of the tracks playing on this video? the intruduction song is very cool!!

[@SconHeadVideos]

I want to open a gold mine in Mauritania. But an equal gold mine where my workers get paid well. If anyone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate that. I want to not just help myself, but help good people who deserve it. Like this guy. Thank you

[@brahimbmzo490]

For the last few years, it's convincing that the Sahara is full of gold, and it is good that Mauritanians are benefiting directly from artisanal and small gold mines. Thousands of people are getting rich from it all over the Sahara in Northern Chad, Southern Libya, Sudan, and Niger. It is now the new Saharan dream!

[@woozyz2769]

Meh, it's actually just more gold for Europe. France has been collecting from Libya, Chad and Niger while Russia has been collecting from Sudan. In order to do this they need inside men aka puppet presidents and officials, France has been doing this since colonial times, nothing new same old same old

[@charleskavoukjian3441]

Oh wow! That’s cool, I wonder how much gold is there

[@ahmeddoudi5391]

​@@charleskavoukjian3441 last year artisanal mines do more the 20 tonnes of gold

[@charleskavoukjian3441]

@@ahmeddoudi5391 woah! Thats a lot of gold. It must be bottomless

[@volkhen0]

Is this Mercury mined out together with gold or they have to add mercury to create amalgamate? If they add, they should evaporate mercury in closed system and reuse it after condensation.

[@SikderDiamond]

The most precious gold of Mauritania is their music.

[@mansooraqureshi2696]

Hope they hit the jack pot,it looks daunting.Their hard work is commendable.

[@oxcolette]

I hope they all get rich!!

[@renegroulx7029]

"Sand forms when rocks break down from weathering and eroding over thousands and even millions of years." Millions of years ago, all these deserts were Mountains.

[@benlemon849]

More like atlantis tsunami washed gold

[@UncleJimmyOutWest]

I don't think she's right.

[@luxraider5384]

It doesnt work that way.

[@rossr6616]

San Francisco Bay still has lots of Mercury from silver and gold mining over the last 150 years; even now about 2,000 pounds is flushed into the Bay annually from Sierra rivers

[@Cheros]

Short and sweet

[@chrisblenkinsopp8588]

You would NEVER catch me going down a hole like that 60 meter one...!!

[@Tmb1112]

Hope some of them can make it rich!!

[@ahmeddoudi5391]

So many peoples become rich

[@jameschristophercirujano6650]

I bet the shopowner's gonna be 100x richer than any of these miners, or he might already be 100 times richer.

[@dinnokoluh]

Somebody knows the name of of the song at 11:05?

[@sheriffsheriff6134]

Wow..

[@Pwnasaur]

So is there a way to provide these miners with appropriate scrubbers whilst they burn the mercury? Would this help?

[@eyespliced]

The kicker with gold extraction, is that there are other methods to chemically extract the gold from the rocks it is contained within that are only _slightly_ more expensive, and while they do leave some nasty remains from processing they are much safer and are orders of magnitude less damaging than using mercury.

[@waynewen4370]

the other way involves sodium cynanide, which for small scale miners are unable to set up considering u need large land with vats and alot of water and a charcoal burning plant.

[@MrWhite-yg6yk]

Good luck and get rich my friends!

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

Digging 200 meters down in dry sand? Really? 200 meter ? And vains, in sand? Has it been a river or something? Strange!

[@crieff1sand2s]

Great but depressing documentary.....😞👍

[@randoir1863]

NO METAL DETECTORS ???? Really ? CMON MAN ! lol Send in Parker from Gold rush and he'll mine that place clean in a season !!!!

[@costafilh0]

30K in gold in one day. What are you still doing at the Sahara? Or did you spend everything in one week partying?

[@AB-hu2uw]

gets sold below market rate ! not the spot price u see

[@costafilh0]

@@AB-hu2uw even if it is half. Still enough money to leave the country. In a single day.

[@AB-hu2uw]

@@costafilh0 i doubt its anywhere near half and on top of that any proceeds will feed many mouths

[@matthewmiller6568]

​@@costafilh0 most like it's less than 10%.

[@costafilh0]

That it is sad. Exploitation of people like that! Even if that's true, $3K will last you a few months in a lot of fvcked up countries like those unless you have like 10 kids or something. And he did that in a single day. Probably there are good and bad days, still, if it wasn't profitable people wouldn't do it. So I stand by my words even if the numbers are not perfect.

[@udaisinghkanwar7250]

I believe it truly is a gold rush, by the end of this year gold prices would have risen by at least 10% .

[@BUNG_DARREN]

Here we go again

[@Phumlanetube]

I've mined 500g of gold in my grannies backyard

[@matteochiacchio4618]

Funny enough I was just watching A video in depth about the anuuakai and that there was a lot of gold from previous civilizations in this area. So it all makes sense that they are finding this high quality gold. This area in the world has many more secrets...

[@dpt6849]

Without water hard to sluice

[@theflanman420420]

200 meters deep? That is nightmare inducing. Respect to these people for trying to get out of poverty.

[@Dimapur]

Looks like the ones selling food, shovels, spares and equipments, building materials will be making more money than the ones going for gold.

[@dannicrane5577]

Spain, Germany, Canada for study. Yeah right. 😂

[@Tripleexel]

At least he applying not getting on a boat

[@EvilTurtle97]

Reminds me an awful lot of the novel 'Holes'.

[@dhanjeepandey4252]

Good...

[@jeronimodennis-ef5lq]

I feel very sorry for these individuals health and misery 😢 and I wish them the best of luck🍀 if it wasn't because of the pollution I would make my way down there look for some gold myself

[@aghileshemdani3144]

What Would you look for some gold in country who are not yours !?

[@jeronimodennis-ef5lq]

The world belongs to all of us I don't hide behind a flag, race or any army! All man should have equal rights to prosper through their own sweat blood and tears and not that of others.

[@pavelstoikov3780]

@@jeronimodennis-ef5lq hi new profile Mar 12, 2023 :D

[@massylii]

@@jeronimodennis-ef5lq 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 do you think the world belongs to your mother? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Foff

[@MrMcawesomeface]

​@@aghileshemdani3144 cause America needs to send some freedom over there, you guys found gold we gonna take it 😂

[@marken8888]

go get the gold, guys! you can do it!

[@FreshtexBlackman]

@9:27 Is that Mercury Teeth Poisoning?

[@awab5770]

“Finding a visa is more difficult then finding gold”

[@art-media209]

This is dangerous work.

[@lemmontree1]

4:50 Soundtrack please

[@josephquaye9756]

If per their findings on the Mercury and its effect on the environment and the ecosystem, the whole of West Africa is on time bomb.

[@paulineeboigbe6989]

I would love to buy gold. How do i do that?

[@halitosis75]

I'm amazed , given how rich Mauritania is in resources most people face poor quality of life and constant struggles. Where is the money from the huge iron ore exports.

[@bloodymary146]

Thank God i am not a gold miner.

[@ecsamuels4142]

I enjoy reading comments☺️

[@moctar1001]

All of these dangers sadly go without being cared about by the government

[@paradhoax]

It happened in Algeria too, but the criminal military regime here arrested all the gold searchers, and now those criminal generals take it easily for themselves, nothing for the Algerian ppl.

[@thedstorm8922]

Lol wtf are you talking about?

[@luxraider5384]

@@thedstorm8922 algeria is ruled by the military

[@theashdey9383]

Wanna know EXACTLY where this is going ? Watch The Gold Mafia documentary on Al Jazeera smh

[@humor9847]

Thats true man

[@muktadirhasan345]

Did you notice how risk it 5:10

[@viangreasespeed1165]

If all gold at the.sahara escavated,than the soil may be can grown plant

[@CHMichael]

If there was gold you'd see someone with a front loader. That's a place you want to be the one that sells the shuttle's. They could build a in ground city like the opal miners in Australia.

[@kria9119]

Front loader costs more than all these people together will see in a lifetime. Mauritania is extremely poor, hardly comparable to colonial or modern-era Australia

[@CHMichael]

@@kria9119 like I said - not enough gold to make it work.

[@tomhenry897]

For modern equipment yes For private citizens with a shovel it does Lots of worked out mines mined by locals just breaking even looking for the big pay out

[@aqeel-3771]

the best part is their can leave the site once their found what their looking for and their will be not hurting the enviroment either which will be turned into green land in the future because it just wasteland (sand only).

[@skanderkechih2433]

How a out equal pay ?

[@jweebo1463]

And the eye of the sahara grows red once more.

[@GeoBlackPro]

Still no metal detectors due to poverty...it's frustrating

[@EuroWarsOrg]

Do they know what to do with it?

[@OBRfarm]

Wild……

[@kewsiyehboah9514]

Wow - What Some Folks have to do 4 A Living.. Ubarikiwe..

[@user-xn7md2rr8d]

Good gold

[@joshkeen9841]

50meters??? Damn good luck with no water source to clean it

[@roncastillo1854]

The ones who are going to be rich in that area are not those who mines GOLD but the ones who sells axe/pick and food supplies for the miners

[@themticker562]

great video, except there's a dust color grading makes it biased documentary. See at 10:43. it was clear then suddenly it changes color. fishy........................

[@filibesko]

The moment she said this town grew a lot recently, then showing couple sheds in the distance lol

[@luxraider5384]

Mauretania is a shadow country of 4 million people

[@fabiogaldino1971]

What keep growing isso desert and lack water

[@bbnCRLB]

250g from 15kg of the sand. Doesn't sound efficient to me.

[@johnnydoe3603]

They left that Dirt next to the Holes. You know something is about to Happen. 😅

[@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88]

If you want to get rich during a gold rush than open a store to sell to miners!

[@cranialnerv]

It is tragic what people have to endure to survive in collapsed and impoverished economies. I feel so sorry for these guys working in these conditions.

[@gre894]

Society usually reflects its people

[@luxraider5384]

Open a map and you ll know why the country is "poor"

[@arawiri]

Just say it's gold 🥇 and boom it's gold