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Gold Rush in Mauritania

March 25, 2023

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.

https://p.dw.com/p/4PEer

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.

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About the show

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Reporter — On Location

DW’s on-the-ground reporters are always close to the action, be it covering international events or zooming in on some of the quirks of daily life. Camera always in hand, they report on the changes they see taking place in Germany, Europe and around the world.