Having lost their traditional herds, the local people of Karamoja, Uganda have increasingly turned to small-scale gold mining as a meager but fairly steady source of income. Their livelihoods are now threatened as large mining interests grow.
Looming Battle for Karamoja’s Gold
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Water pipes laid by a large mining company conducting exploration in Karamoja, Uganda, March 2, 2014. (Hilary Heuler for VOA)
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The Karimojong are traditionally semi-nomadic pastoralists, but their herds are fast disappearing, driving people into mining, March 2, 2014. (Hilary Heuler for VOA)
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A gold nugget artisanal miners found in a dry riverbed, March 2, 2014. (Hilary Heuler for VOA)
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A Karimojong woman pans for gold using two plastic basins, March 2, 2014. Hilary Heuler / VOA News