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Every year, thousands of West African children are sold by their parents to artisanal gold mines for around $120. The UN estimates that there are currently 250,000 child gold miners in West Africa earning no more than $1.25 per day and the gold they retrieve is shipped to the West via a hub in Bamako, Mali.

The nuggets that they retrieve from man-made tunnels are valuable to us, ending up in our computers, mobile phones and jewelry, but we must not overlook how valuable these children are. They are the future of West Africa and should be going to school, not working in hazardous mine shafts far away from home and handling liquid Mercury with their bare hands.

Schooling is a proactive way of preventing children in West Africa from being sent to work in dangerous artisanal mines.

The aim of Forgotten Nuggets is to help put an end to child labor in West African gold mines by establishing and running primary schools. Our hope is to obtain matching funds from international mining corporations.

 

 

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