{"id":15201,"date":"2026-11-01T12:04:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T11:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alexanderbeephoto.com\/portfolio-2\/burkina-faso-mines-artisanales\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T13:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T12:07:37","slug":"artisanal-gold-mining-burkina-faso","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.alexanderbeephoto.com\/en\/portfolio\/artisanal-gold-mining-burkina-faso\/","title":{"rendered":"Artisanal Gold Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This photo story, made in May 2019, goes into artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso. At the Ariogo site, near Mongomd\u00e9, men go down narrow shafts to look for gold, in dust and danger.<\/p>\n

Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso, a lottery underground<\/h2>\n

It is more than 40 degrees in full sun. The dull blasts of dynamite are a reminder that below, at the bottom of thousands of holes, people are looking for gold. The Ariogo site has been active for more than twenty years. According to its manager, nearly 5,000 people work there every day.<\/p>\n

A miner climbing out of a narrow shaft dug into the earth \u2013 Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso \u2013 Alexander Bee photo<\/figure>\n

The organisation is hierarchical. At the top, the owner of the hole. In the middle, a trusted man who supervises in his absence. Up to fifteen people surround an active hole. Some go down to break the rock, others haul up buckets of ore by hand. Children prepare beans, the only meal of the day.<\/p>\n

A family business, between luck and hard work<\/h2>\n

The stone must be broken, then ground to a fine dust, to extract the gold. The process takes nearly three months and its outcome rests almost entirely on luck. One miner sums it up: \u201cYou can dig for a year and find nothing.\u201d Five metres away, his neighbour may become a millionaire.<\/p>\n

Gold mining is also a family business. Cousins, brothers and children work together. Yet the hole owners dream of another future for their children, for example in the civil service. The photos show the shafts, the washing ramps, the sacks of ore and the dust that covers everything.<\/p>\n

This story is part of Alexander Bee\u2019s documentary photography portfolio<\/a>. You can also discover Niger: women and children<\/a> or Brittany: the sea and the horses<\/a>. To buy a print or use a photo, contact me<\/a>. To learn more: Artisanal mining on Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This photo story, made in May 2019, goes into artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso. At the Ariogo site, near Mongomd\u00e9, men go down narrow shafts to look for gold, in dust and danger. Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15131,"parent":15189,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15201","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArtisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso | Alexander Bee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photo report on artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso: men climb down narrow shafts to bring up the ore, in dust and danger. 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