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The Price of GOLD_National Geographic magazine_1/2009 139 images Created 1 Apr 2021

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  • A woman receives a gold facial at a Las Vegas spa, the ultimate in decadence to have glowing skin. Gold leaf is rubbed into the pores until it disappears and is absorbed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222987.TIF
  • Fevered by hopes of striking it rich, illegal miners claw sacks of “money stone” –gold ore- from the Pra River in Ghana. Their toll feeds the world’s hunger for gold, and leaves a ruined landscape in its wake.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198338.TIF
  • The gold vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of twelve regional capital reserve banks in the system and located in the heart of the financial district in downtown Manhattan. <br />
Moving gold bars just a few feet from one storage closet to another can shape the balance of financial power between nations.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198346.TIF
  • Illegal gold mining on the riverbanks of the Pra River. Artisanal miners work on the tailing piles around big industrial mines leaving a ruined landscape.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198352.TIF
  • Indonesian farmers illegally dig for gold undercutting a torn up riverbank in Borneo.<br />
Thousands of workers have left their fields to join Indonesia’s gold rush of artisanal mining for the chance to make five dollars a day.<br />
<br />
Eastern Java has high unemployment, and many migrant workers initially came to Kalimantan to do artisanal timber work. But the government stomped out small operations in favor of two big companies so they could control the industry. All the artisanal timber workers switched to gold. <br />
<br />
Eastern Java is overcrowded and the government has an official transmigration program to Kalimantan. Workers earn more so they camp having access only to water from the amalgam ponds where they bath and drink.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198340.TIF
  • A man fixes mining equipment in a muddy pit in a search for gold in Borneo. Such operations leave a devastated landscape and miners test high for mercury earning about $5US a day.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222961.TIF
  • Staring intently at a set of measures she suspends over a tabletop, a Guyanan woman breast-feeds a baby in her lap.<br />
Desiree Pillay weighs gold and tries to run a remote outpost in Menzies Landing, all alone because her husband (on wall photo)is imprisoned after he  shot and killed a man in a dispute over gold.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6570_704402.TIF
  • Gold jewelry on display in a store in Hong Kong.<br />
<br />
Gold is extremely malleable. One ounce can be spread out over 100 square feet. It  is too soft and too scarce for most uses.  Almost ninety percent of gold is used for adornment or money.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223021.TIF
  • Aerial view of mile-wide Batu Hijau, a copper and gold mine, located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa east of Jakarta. Ore is removed from the open-pit mine with electric shovels and haul trucks. Tailings from processing are disposed in the ocean and waste rock in the rainforest raising environmental concerns.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198339.TIF
  • A headlamp illuminates illegal mining in a shaft on Ashanti Gold land in Ghana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223015.TIF
  • Rocks are smashed and washed by hand in search of gold flecks in an old mine tunnel left by Belgians. Miners hold flashlights to see underground when they work.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976460.TIF
  • Women pan for gold in the dust of streets full of garbage. They collect flecks of gold from neighborhood jewelry workshops, prospecting before dawn before official trash collectors arrive to clean the streets of Chennai, India.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198343.TIF
  • Billboards advertising gold wedding jewelry luring buyers before India's wedding season when sales soar. India is the top gold consumer with buyers collecting for investment as much as adornment.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198344.TIF
  • The gold vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Bank holds FIVE percent of the world's 161,000 tons of gold which means they must have over 8,000 tons. <br />
<br />
One of twelve regional capital reserve banks in the system, it is located in the heart of the financial district in downtown Manhattan. Moving gold bars just a few feet from one storage closet to another can shape the balance of financial power between nations.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223063.TIF
  • Goldsmiths shed shirts to work in a one-room factory in Kolkata. They all come from the same village, moving the worktables aside and sleeping on the floor. They earn approximately $400US a month.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198345.TIF
  • Women pan for gold in the dust of streets full of garbage. They collect flecks of gold from neighborhood jewelry workshops, prospecting before dawn before official trash collectors arrive to clean the streets of Chennai, India.
    MM7339_20070918_01548.tif
  • A decadent jewelry store with a gold chariot built to attract tourists who can purchase high quality product more reasonably than in other global markets.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223006.TIF
  • Illegal gold mining on the riverbanks of the Pra River in Ghana. They worked in the tailings left by large industrial mines until run out by the military so they moved to riverbanks and work in a ruined landscape.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223018.TIF
  • Miners in a pond mixing mercury with ore to separate out the gold. Other miners bathe and brush their teeth in the pond that is laid with mercury. Miners test 1000 ppm and the normal range is 170-300. They earn $5US a day.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198348.JPG
  • Miners in a pond mix mercury with ore to separate out the gold. Other miners bathe and brush their teeth in the pond that is laid with mercury. Miners test 1000 ppm and the normal range is 170-300. They earn $5US a day.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222998.TIF
  • A villager in Ghana who was shot in the leg during a mining protest uses crutches for a wound that has not healed after a year has passed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222972.TIF
  • A gold miner in Kalimantan lights a smoke during a break from work.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222997.TIF
  • Goldsmiths hang their shirts to work in a one-room factory in Kolkata. They sleep and eat in the small space together to earn a living. In India, gold is highly valued for adornment and sought after during wedding season.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223046.TIF
  • Children sleep in a store front together spend their nights sweeping dust looking for gold bits to recover from the streets of Kolkata.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223054.TIF
  • Plastic buckets and truck parts are used to prospect for gold.  Small time gold prospecting creates newly carved roads destroying the northeastern Congo in the  Ituri Forest. <br />
<br />
Gold fever is contagious in northeastern Congo, where the metal finances local warlords. Rocks are smashed and washed by hand in search of yellow flecks.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972266.TIF
  • This fake gun is a sign of authority held by a security guard at a gold mining operation in the Ituri Forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1025511.TIF
  • A young teenager stands on a submerged log to help miners sluice for gold in mine tailings at an improvised mine in Ghana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198337.TIF
  • Aerials of Batu Hijau gold mine and Benete seaport and concentrator and pipeline that takes tailings into ocean trench. Trucks carry 240 tons of rock as they wind their way up through a maze of roads and terraced slopes..
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222955.TIF
  • View through a muddy windshield shows trucks hauling waste rock at Batu Hijau, a copper and gold mine located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa east of Jakarta. Ore is removed from the open-pit mine with electric shovels and haul trucks. Tailings from processing are disposed in the ocean and waste rock in the rainforest raising environmental concerns.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222956.TIF
  • A table stacked with tomatoes and other food items is located outside after surface mining and blasting destroyed a store and many homes in 1986. Residents of Sanso have never been compensated for the damage from the gold mining company.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222967.TIF
  • Illegal gold mining on the riverbanks of the Pra River in Ghana. Miners worked in the tailings left by large industrial mines until run out by the military so they moved to riverbanks and work in a ruined landscape.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222968.TIF
  • Workers wear protective clothing when handling gold from a mine in Ghana as they pack and sort it for transport. Newmont Ghana gold mine pulls about 500,000 ounces a year from this mine.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223009.TIF
  • Homes damaged and knocked down by surface mining blasting. The gold mining company never compensated the residents from the damage incurred in 1986.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223017.TIF
  • Billboards advertising gold jewelry in a bid to woo customers and boost sales. It is an investment and sometimes stores offer discounts to entice Indian buyers during festival seasons.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223034.TIF
  • A woman listens to a seller in a busy jewelry store in Chennai on Akshaya Tritiya, the auspicious day for purchasing gold in India. Customers crowd over the showcases to purchase the precious metal for investment and adornment.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223035.TIF
  • A neon sign is reflected in the window of a crowded bus in the gold shopping area of Chennai, India.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223037.TIF
  • Men fixing mining equipment in a muddy pit where waste from the gold mining operation is collected. Amalgam ponds have high readings of mercury, yet workers bath and brush their teeth in the water.
    Gold_20060421_01814.tif
  • African guards watch as helicopter takes $7M worth of gold bars out of the Newmont mine in Ghana. old from a mine in Ghana is packed and sorted for transport.
    GOLDGHANA_20060925_01046.tif
  • A bride wearing gold threads in her sari and a priceless headpiece that is 100 years old and the workmanship places value at approximately $500,000US. Gold involves a dowry in the arranged marriage between two coffee plantation owner families in Chikmagalur, India.
    MM7339_20070918_01050.tif
  • Miners hold pans full of water in an amalgam pond to mix mercury with ore and separate out the gold. Workers absorb high level of mercury which causes health issues. If inhaled, mercury can cause permanent lung damage and potential brain damage. Exposure can also cause irritation to eyes, skin, stomach, cause weakness, headaches and breathing problems.
    Gold_20060421_02198.tif
  • Men stand on a bamboo structure fixing mining equipment in a muddy amalgam pit they use to sluice gold..
    Gold_20060421_01800.tif
  • Miners hold pans of water in an amalgam  pond mixing mercury with ore to separate out the gold. Workers absorb high levels of mercury by bathing and brushing their teeth in the discard. Health issues can include permanent lung damage and potential brain damage. Exposure can also cause irritation to eyes, skin, stomach, cause weakness, headaches and breathing problems.
    Gold_20060421_02357.tif
  • The gold vault at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of twelve regional capital reserve banks in the system and located in the heart of the financial district in downtown Manhattan. <br />
Moving gold bars just a few feet from one storage closet to another can shape the balance of financial power between nations.
    MM7339_20080621_06827.tif
  • Billboards advertising gold jewelry in a bid to woo customers and boost sales. It is an investment and sometimes stores offer discounts to entice Indian buyers during festival seasons.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223038.TIF
  • A goldsmith working in a one-room factory in Kolkata uses his teeth to steady a piece while he uses both hands to work the metal, softened by heat of a flame.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223051.TIF
  • Villagers in the war-weary Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo scrape for gold in a shaft dug decades ago by a Belgian company. Armed groups controlled Ituri’s rich mines, using gold to buy weapons. Hundreds of people from Congo and Uganda come to work at the mines.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976458.TIF
  • Pople walk by modest homes that line the unpaved road in a small gold mining town in northeastern Congo.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976456.TIF
  • Miners use mercury to separate gold from rock while they inhale toxic vapors during the refining process. A gram of gold may fetch $35 for a miner while adding a potentially heavy cost to his health including neurological and genetic damage.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198341.TIF
  • Wearing her fortune, from gold threads in her sari to a priceless heirloom headpiece, she waits to marry. The arranged marriage between two coffee plantation owning families involves a dowry of gold. Indians have more gold than USA reserve system.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198342.TIF
  • Rough hands pressing excess mercury from extracted gold. Miners use mercury to separate gold from rock while they inhale toxic vapors during the refining process. A gram of gold may fetch $35 for a miner while adding a potentially heavy cost to his health including neurological and genetic damage.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198347.TIF
  • Gold bricks  from a mine in Ghana are packed and sorted for transport under armed guards by helicopter.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198349.JPG
  • Taxi driver with bullet scarred stomach from illegal mining violence.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198351.TIF
  • Mass-market jewelry takes shape at a goldsmith's workshop in Kolkata. Artisanal gold smiths both live and work in a small space where they assemble intricate pieces of jewelry that are highly valued in the Indian culture.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1198353.TIF
  • A plane flies around clouds over Batu Hijau gold mine's dedicated port facilities at Benete Bay in Indonesia's Sumbawa Island.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222952.TIF
  • Aerial view of Batu Hijau gold mine's dedicated port facilities at Benete Bay on the coast of Sumbawa Island in Indonesia.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222954.TIF
  • Haul trucks carry rock waste at Batu Hijau, an open pit copper and gold mine. The second largest mine in Indonesia has a tropical monsoonal climate with high rainfall, and an extended arid season with almost no rainfall. Other environmental considerations include significant seismic activity, with the associated risk of tsunamis, and acid rock drainage, not to mention the existence on site of an endangered species, the yellow-crested cockatoo.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222957.TIF
  • A truck that hauls waste rock is washed at Batu Hijau mine. The fleet is a part of a large gold mine operation in Indonesia.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222958.TIF
  • A woman with a red umbrella walks on a main street in a village with a satellite dish in Kalimantan. East Java has high unemployment and there are many migrant workers on Kalimantan (Borneo) who came from Java initially to do artisanal timber work. The government pressured smaller companies and the workers switched to gold mining.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222960.TIF
  • Laundry hanging to dry in a village in Kalimantan where many workers live who do artisanal gold mining.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222962.TIF
  • Surface mining blasting destroyed many homes in Sanso in 1986, and the responsible gold mining company has not help residents restore their buildings.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222966.TIF
  • Sweat pours down the face of an iIllegal miner scraping for gold on the riverbanks of the Pra River.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222969.TIF
  • Illegal miners scraping for gold on the riverbanks of the Pra River. The ruined landscape causes environmental damage that is not repaired.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222970.TIF
  • A young woman wanders through a resettlement village where a gold mining company took over the land, then built houses and moved people into the new community. The problem is there is no work, food or wate.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222971.TIF
  • New houses built by Newmont Ghana Gold Limited. Communities of people moved into new homes when the mining company took over land where their villages were located. The struggle is to have work, food and water since they were farmers.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222973.TIF
  • A woman receives a gold facial at a luxury spa so her skin will slow and look healthy.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222986.JPG
  • Portrait of a gold miner in Kalimantan wearing protective clothing but his face is caked with splashed mud.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222996.TIF
  • Workers repairing a sluice box on a gold mine which is muddy, difficult wor .
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222999.TIF
  • Miners in an amalgam pond mix mercury with ore to separate out the gold. Workers test high levels of mercury after working, bathing and brushing their teeth in the toxic water.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223002.TIF
  • Children play behind a statue in the new town of Karang Pani which supports the nearby gold mining.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223004.TIF
  • A jewelry store with a gold chariot built to attract tourists in to shop for luxury items in Hong Kong.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223005.TIF
  • Miners wear headlamps to negotiate narrow passages underground in an illegal mine shaft on Ashanti Gold land in Ghana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223014.TIF
  • Workers shovel and dig in an illegal gold mine on the riverbanks of the Pra River. The landscape is devastated in the process of obtaining the precious metal.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223019.TIF
  • Billboards advertising gold jewelry in the main street where people are reminded of the value in gold that is highly valued and often part of a dowry in the Indian wedding season.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223042.TIF
  • Goldsmiths work in a one-room factory in Kolkata where they live and eat when not creating jewelry with the precious metal.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223047.JPG
  • Artisanal goldsmiths work in Kolkata in cramped quarters where they eat and sleep when not heating the precious metal to craft into gold jewelry.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223048.TIF
  • A goldsmith holds up an ornate necklace made of the soft, shiny metal as workers  craft gold pieces in a one-room factory in Kolkata.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223049.TIF
  • Goldsmiths shed shirts and sweat while working in a crowded, hot one-room factory in Kolkata.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223050.TIF
  • A glowing gold jewelry store in Kolkota reflects sellers in the mirrors who are waiting for customers.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223052.TIF
  • Goldsmiths live and work in a one-room factory in Kolkata. The men are often from the same village and share food and sleeping spaces in cramped quarters.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223053.TIF
  • Panning for gold in the dust outside a sweatshop, these artisanal craftsmen live and work in the same cramped quarters in Kolkata, India.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223056.TIF
  • Women wait in the Palace Hotel in Bangalore to view a display of jewelry made for a Bollywood movie.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223057.TIF
  • Gold mining near the town of Quarantesept in northeastern Congo. Hundreds of people from Congo and Uganda come to work at the mines.<br />
<br />
Villagers in the war-weary Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo scrape for gold in a shaft dug decades ago by a Belgian company. Until recently, armed groups controlled Ituri’s rich mines, using gold to buy weapons.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976457.TIF
  • Men work ar a mine in a muddy pit and ruined landscape trying to repair broken equipment in Indonesia.
    Gold_20060421_01822.tif
  • A bride is reflected in a mirror wearing gold threads in her sari and a priceless headpiece. Gold jewelry is part of the dowry in Indian marriages.
    MM7339_20070918_00530.tif
  • Wearing her fortune, from gold threads in her sari to a priceless heirloom headpiece, she waits to marry. The arranged marriage between two coffee plantation owning families involves a dowry of gold. Indians have more gold than USA reserve system.
    MM7339_20070918_00545.tif
  • Artisanal goldsmiths work in Kolkata in cramped quarters where they eat and sleep when not heating the precious metal to craft into gold jewelry.
    MM7339_20080515_03558.tif
  • Mass-market jewelry takes shape at a goldsmith's workshop in Kolkata.The artisan workers heat the soft metal and create intricate jewelry that is highly valued for adornment and as an investment in India.
    MM7339_20080515_04729.tif
  • Reflections in windows show people walking on the street past mass-market jewelry stores that show off glittering pieces at a goldsmith's workshop in Bangalore.
    MM7339_20070918_00277.tif
  • Shops have not opened yet in the early morning before mass-market jewelry artisanal factories. People start their day in the area where goldsmith's workshops are located in Kolkata.
    MM7339_20080515_03471.tif
  • Near empty streets and shuttered shops are illuminated by a street light in early morning before mass-market jewelry artisanal factories open. This is the area that has goldsmith's workshops in Kolkata.
    MM7339_20080516_03970.tif
  • Explosives set in pit at mile-wide Batu Hijau, a copper and gold min that is located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa east of Jakarta. <br />
After men set explosions, ore is removed from the open-pit mine with electric shovels and haul trucks. Tailings from processing are disposed in the ocean and waste rock in the rainforest raising environmental concerns.
    GOLDGHANA_20060925_00813.tif
  • Gold camp at mile-wide Batu Hijau, a copper and gold mine where life is quiet in the newly built town. Villages were moved from their homes to make way for the mine.
    GOLDGHANA_20060925_00332.tif
  • Lights are strung up in trees above billboards advertising gold jewelry that is highly valued in India.
    MM7339_20070918_01450.tif
  • Billboards advertising gold wedding jewelry luring buyers before India's wedding season when sales soar. India is the top gold consumer with buyers collecting for investment as much as adornment.
    MM7339_20070918_02044.tif
  • A busy jewelry store in Chennai. India is the top gold consumer with buyers collecting for investment as much as adornment.
    MM7339_20070918_01331.tif
  • Mass-market jewelry takes shape at a goldsmith's workshop in Kolkata. Workers make ornate pieces that will be sold in jewelry stores.  India is the top gold consumer with buyers collecting for investment as much as adornment.
    MM7339_20080515_03227.tif
  • Buses, motor scooters and cars clog the roads under billboards advertising gold wedding jewelry. Buyers are lured in before India's wedding season when sales soar. India is the top gold consumer with buyers collecting for investment as much as adornment.
    MM7339_20080511_02704.tif
  • Goldsmiths live and work in a one-room factory in Kolkata. The men make ornate necklaces that are highly valued during wedding season. Artisanal craftsmen are often from the same village and share food and sleeping spaces in cramped quarters.
    MM7339_20080515_03297.tif
  • Mass-market gold jewelry takes shape at a goldsmith's workshop in Kolkata.
    MM7339_20080515_03454.tif
  • View through a muddy windshield shows trucks hauling waste rock at Batu Hijau, a copper and gold mine located on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa east of Jakarta. Ore is removed from the open-pit mine with electric shovels and haul trucks. Tailings from processing are disposed in the ocean and waste rock in the rainforest raising environmental concerns.
    Gold_20060413_00538.tif
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