Digging for Gold in the Andes – The New Yorker

Digging for Gold in the Andes

Moises Saman photographed unregulated gold mining in the ramshackle town of La Rinconada, in the Peruvian Andes.

via The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/digging-for-gold-in-the-andes

The mines at La Rinconada, a bitter-cold, mercury-contaminated pueblo clinging to the glaciered mountainside, are “artisanal”—small, unregulated, and grossly unsafe. To stave off disaster, the miners propitiate the mountain deities with tiny liquor bottles.
CREDITPHOTOGRAPH BY MOISES SAMAN / MAGNUM