The arduous job of gold panning carries the risk of catching skin infections from wading through waters chock full of waste from the nearby mine AFP/Efert ABUBARTIMIKA, Indonesia: With the coronavirus devastating jobs across the country, desperate Indonesians are flocking to illegal gold mines as the soaring price of the precious metal overrides the risk to their lives and the environment.
Spooked by the economic destruction wrought by the pandemic, consumers and investors around the world have been snapping up gold, which is seen as a hedge against volatility AFP/ADEK BERRYOn a good day, Mustafa collects a gram of gold by sifting through the mud with a fabric filter, which he can sell to a local trader for about 800,000 rupiah - no small sum in one of Indonesia's poorest regions.
"There are more of us here now during the pandemic because the price of gold has jumped," Mustafa told AFP in a telephone interview. "This is very dangerous for our health. Me and some of my friends have skin diseases," Mustafa said."But thank god, so far no one has got the virus."Thousands of kilometres to the west in Kalimantan - Indonesia's section of Borneo island - police this month arrested 400 gold miners accused of operating illegally in a conservation area, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
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