Nestled in a town named after the mythical City of Gold, residents of El Dorado face a stark contradiction: despite the promise of untold riches, most live in poverty.
In this remote mining town of around 5,000 people, gold is more than just a precious metal—it has become the very currency that sustains daily life. Merchants meticulously weigh tiny flecks of gold, often kept in plastic pill bottles or wrapped in pieces of paper, using scales to price goods at the market.
For just 0.02 grams of gold, a shopper can buy a small packet of maize meal. One gram—a sum that can purchase a pre-packaged bag of groceries including flour, pasta, oil, margarine, ketchup, and milk powder—is valued between $85 and $100. But earning even a gram requires hours of grueling labor in the mines, and luck is far from guaranteed.
“Gold is a blessing given to us so we can buy what we want, but you have to work hard,” said 48-year-old miner José Tobias Tranquini, who has lived in the town his whole life. “One day at the mine you might find nothing. There are lucky people who have gotten up to a kilo, but… I haven’t had that kind of blessing. I’ve only gotten a little bit.”
With limited access to formal banking, residents could sell their gold to one of the many dealers lining El Dorado’s streets, but most choose to hold onto it. Unlike the battered Venezuelan bolívar, which has lost roughly half its value this year alone, gold does not depreciate.
No Gold, No Life
El Dorado’s origins trace back to 1895, when it was established as a military fort during a border dispute between Britain and Venezuela over the mineral- and oil-rich Essequibo region. Today, the area remains contested between Venezuela and Guyana.
Older residents recall when rain would reveal tiny particles of gold in the town’s clay streets. While the streets are now paved—albeit potholed—motorcycles remain the primary mode of transport, buzzing through the town.
Hilda Carrero, 73, a merchant who arrived during a gold rush 50 years ago, remembers El Dorado as “jungle and snakes… it was ugly.” Now she sells cans of water for 0.03 grams of gold each, about $1.50. Business, like the mining hauls, is inconsistent—some days she sells nothing.
“If I don’t have gold, I have no life,” Carrero said with a sigh.
The region’s rich deposits of gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz, and coltan have drawn not only miners but also organized crime and guerrilla groups who engage in illegal mining, fueling violence and instability. Extortion of small businesses is widespread, and clashes between rival criminal gangs claimed 217 lives in the four years leading up to 2020.
Environmental groups warn of an “ecocide” caused by widespread mining activity, and mine collapses have tragically killed dozens.
Hazardous Work Amid Toxic Conditions
Around El Dorado, numerous camps process the gold-laden sand extracted daily by miners. In zinc-roofed sheds, machines powered by modified car engines mill the sand, which is then washed with water and toxic mercury to separate the gold from other materials.
Tiny gold particles—almost invisible to the naked eye—are trapped in green mats that are shaken to collect the precious metal. The granules are heated with blowtorches to burn off impurities before being sold or traded.
The work is both exhausting and dangerous.
“The danger is the smoke,” said a mill owner, referring to the mercury fumes, even as he smoked a cigarette.
At a mine visited by AFP, a family of five spent four hours processing a single ton of sand. Their yield: one gram of gold.
“We’ll use it to buy food and whatever is needed at the mill,” said one worker, who asked to remain anonymous as he cupped a tiny grain of gold in rough hands.
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