Gold extraction in the region is based on a dangerous practice.  Miners are poisoning the land by using mercury to bind the small gold pieces together.

Dakar

In the village of Bantaku in southeastern Senegal, thousands of small-scale gold miners continue to use mercury to extract gold from the soil. While the rising price of gold has attracted many to the region, the miners are not seeing significant financial gains and are facing serious health and environmental consequences.

The use of mercury has led to soil contamination, making it impossible to grow crops and causing visible harm to local vegetation. Mercury exposure poses severe health risks, including respiratory diseases and birth defects. Despite these dangers and ongoing government efforts to ban mercury, miners say they will continue its use until a viable alternative is available.

Small-scale gold miners in Senegal use mercury despite health risks

There are thousands of hopeful gold miners in the village of Bantaku, deep in the southeast of Senegal, like this prospector. It's not that deep, about 10 or 15 meters. I think life is a gamble. Wherever we are, we have to work anyway. You have to seize your opportunities. Geopolitical tensions have seen the gold price skyrocket, but these miners are not getting rich. And they're poisoning the land by using mercury to bind the small gold pieces. The soil here is contaminated, so we can't grow crops. It's really a great sadness for me to see the trees die. Mercury is a very dangerous product. It poisons the soil, it poisons the air, and it can cause lung diseases and deformities in babies. But despite the health concerns, as long as there's no good alternative to gold extraction, the miners say they'll not stop using it. Senegalese government has been trying for years to ban the use of mercury without success.

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