This archive report was first published on 7 December 2019.
On October 5, 2018, American tourist Matthew Hales visited the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and met small-scale gold miners in Lolgorian, Narok County, who were toiling in minefields while exposing themselves to danger.
Concerned by their working conditions, Hales decided to launch the 'Farmers of Gold' initiative to attract funding from well-wishers in his home country to support the miners.
As part of his efforts, Hales donated safety equipment, including safety glasses, ear plugs, gloves, helmets, and gumboots, to over 1,500 miners in the area.
He also assisted the miners in building a small processing plant to ease and secure their work, and provided a gold shaking table and centrifugal concentrator machine from China to be installed at the plant.
According to Hales, the machines and equipment used in gold mining may not be expensive but are not readily available in Kenya and have to be imported from other countries, making it difficult for small-scale miners to access them.
Pauline Owino, a miner who has worked in the Lolgorian mines for a long time, said that most miners used mercury to speed up the process of extracting gold from rocks, despite the dangers posed by the substance.
However, with Hales' support, the miners are now able to work safely and securely, and are grateful for his assistance.
