Afghanistan: gold miners brave debts and death

Homayon tears off a piece of flatbread and takes a sip of tea, while the din of the tools being used is silent for a brief pause by his companions to unearth gold on a mountain in northeastern Afghanistan.

This 30-year-old mechanic has been unable to find work in the nearby town of Faizabad. So, he joined forces with a few other unemployed people to dig rock in search of the precious metal, on the peaks of Badakhshan province.

“There were five or six of us without work when we came here to see if we could find something,” Homayon told AFP, while his comrades finished their break, restarted the generators and took back their jackhammers.

In their small artisanal mine, they dug four tunnels, but without finding much. At the same time, they have to put their little savings into gasoline and their tools.

Miners inside a tunnel of a gold mine in the mountains of Yaftal Sufla district, Badakhshan province, February 24, 2024 in Afghanistan © AFP – Wakil KOHSAR

Other mines in the area have yielded gold, assures Homayon. So they continue to dig, the hope of finding a good vein outweighing the risk of finding themselves in debt.

The losses can be heavy, admits Qadir Khan . “There are people who got into debt and found nothing in these kinds of tunnels,” he explains.

“They lost 200,000 or 300,000 (Afghanis, from 2,500 to 3,700 euros), and had no other solution than to try to find another work, earn money and repay their debts.”

Even at 74, Qadir Khan also has no “other choice” than to continue to work, he confides, leaning over the pile of rocks he is about to crush.

The return of the Taliban to power in 2021 ended two decades of war with the Americans and their allies, but half of the Afghan population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

A miner inside a tunnel of a gold mine in the mountains of Yaftal Sufla district, Badakhshan province, February 24, 2024 in Afghanistan © AFP – Wakil KOHSAR

Sharif, 60, previously herded cattle. He's been mining for a year now. Two of his sons went to Iran to try to find work there.

“We continue to cultivate, but it is no longer like before,” he said, complaining of the lack of water, the country undergoing its third year of drought.

The rocks are broken, then transported to the bottom of the mountain, where they are reduced to powder.

– Death awaits –

On the slopes of the Kokcha River, which flows between the snow-capped peaks, men use makeshift buckets to pour water on piles of dust.

A miner carries buckets of stones and earth out of a tunnel of a gold mine in the mountains of Yaftal Sufla district, Badakhshan province, February 24, 2024 in Afghanistan © AFP – Wakil KOHSAR

Then they sieve it through material taken from the inside of a car and stretched over pieces of wood.

The proceeds from the first wash are used to finance the equipment to keep the mine active. What is obtained during the second and third washings is shared between the workers.

A young man stops swirling the container in which he separates the rock from the gold , to take out of his pocket a piece of plastic wrapped around a tiny quantity of the precious metal, worth around 4,000 Afghanis.

Miners sift and wash earth extracted from a gold mine near the Kokcha River, Yaftal Sufla district, Badakhshan province, February 24, 2024 in Afghanistan © AFP – Wakil KOHSAR

At the end of February, 4.5 grams of gold could be sold for 18,000 Afghanis (220 euros), says Homayon.

On the world market , the price of the yellow metal reached a historic peak on March 5, rising to $2,141 per ounce.

Even if Afghan gold prospectors succeed to find a significant quantity, they will have to give a fifth of the profits to the Taliban authorities.

While searching the Afghan mountains, miners face not only debt, but also death.

Mine collapses are common in wealthy Afghanistan many minerals and stones, such as lapis lazuli for which Badakhshan is famous.

Miners sift and wash earth extracted from a gold mine near the Kokcha River, Yaftal Sufla district, Badakhshan province, February 24, 2024 in Afghanistan © AFP – Wakil KOHSAR

Kokcha River miners say they have lost friends recently. And last month, local media reported the death of a gold prospector in a mine collapse in neighboring Takhar province.

In 2019, at least 30 people were killed in Badakhshan when the gold mine they were excavating collapsed.

But, despite everything, the miners continue to dig. “So far we haven't found much,” admits Homayon. “But we have hope, we trust in God.”

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