Journey down an artisan mine

IT’S only after 10am and already the searing heat and humidity of a typical west Africa day begins to force tiring locals under the shade of dusty makeshift shelters.

Young men are returning red-eyed and covered in clay from a night’s mining at the mine of Abompe. Others are beginning their day, clean clothed and wishing for luck.

Every day hundreds of thousands of illegal miners risk their lives in search of gold.