gold digger

The recent flooding of the rio Napo deposited new quantities of gold sediment which has caused a bit of a gold rush among the nearby communities on the banks of the river. I went to help out one day and was mesmerized with the simple, manual-labor based extraction techniques for the 79th element-Au- Gold, Oro, Kuri. I couldn't help but changed the photos to black and white because it all seemed so nostalgic! The first step is to chuck the big stones out of the way. The smaller rocks are manageable enough to form small mounds with your hands: as the ladies here are demonstrating. Each small mound of pebbles, sand, and sediment is transferred to the sifter (which is set up in the water) via buckets and wood trays. The material is dumped in the top area and then flushed with water to separate the rocks and to localize the sand in the bottom slide which contains a blanket.

When the blanket is full of sand, it is carefully rinsed into a bucket in which the muddy water contains the precious gold specks. The sand and water in the bucket is strategically centrifuged with a wood tray called a 'bateo'. Teresa above is basically swirling out all of the water and large material until she's left with gold. It's an arduous task to collect even so much as a gram. 'Gold-washing' is usually done in mingas which is a community event. I enjoyed the community sweat,
hang out and accomplishment of our efforts- A few friends offered to come back to the States with me and wash gold there...watch out Rio Grande, the gold rush is on!