Aidalid Vergara and her colleagues belong to the Asociacion Agrominera Unida por Mindalá (AGROMIN), a women’s cooperative in Colombia. They are so-called “barequeras” and wash gold from riverbeds – a hard job.
In the early hours of the morning, after the women have taken their children to school, they set off in traditional boats to their work sites around the La Salvajina reservoir. For many hours a day, they stand bent over a stream of water, swirling river gravel in a bowl, just as their mothers and grandmothers did. The heavy gold particles remain in the center of the bowl, while the lighter sand sloshes over the edge of the bowl.
This natural method of gold panning is done completely without the use of harmful chemicals such as mercury and cyanide. Heavy machinery is not used either.
The women take their professional future in their own hands and support each other. The Fairmined Ecological certification that AGROMIN is seeking would enable them to obtain a fair price for their gold and receive additional premiums.
