Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Afghan villagers turn to gold-panning to sustain livelihoods
Gold is a precious metal, and has been valued for thousands of years as
currency, jewelry, and investment because of its beauty, durability, and rarity.
Also, gold is used in electronics, such as smartphones and computers, for its
conductivity. Even though the price of gold fluctuates due to inflation,
currency exchange rates, and geopolitics, it is considered a safe-haven asset
because it has a limited supply and stock. In fact, over the last decade, the
price of gold has fluctuated significantly, ranging from as low as $36 up to as
high as $176 per gram. Most of the gold production comes from gold mines, and
some from recycling jewelry and electronics. The simplest, though most laborious,
way to extract gold is panning from a placer deposit using a pan, as American
miners did during gold rushes in the mid-19th century in California. As job
opportunities are scarce, wages are low, opium poppy farming is strictly banned
under the Taliban rule, more Afghan men are now working on gold-panning along
the Kunar riverbed in northeastern Afghanistan. It is a time-consuming, laborious
work, but finding a gram of gold in a week seems attractive enough to bring workers
from Kabul, the capital city.
Read the article and see the photos to learn about gold panning along
the Kunar riverbed.
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