What lies beyond the main gate at the Las Cristinas gold mine in southern Bolivar State?
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Seen from a helicopter hovering barely 200 meters above the main gate at the Las Cristinas gold mine in southern Bolivar State...
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But, beyond the gates (top left in our picture, above ) lies a wasteland which has been created through decades of environmental decay as illegal garimpieros (indigenous miners) work their way through millions of tonnnes of sub-soil searching for occasional nuggets of gold, but leaving behind them a path of destruction with huge swates of virgin rainforest cut down or burned to make way for high-powered water pumps to hose down (see center below) the sub soil unimpeded by law enforcement and/or mining company guards.
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Behind them, the illegal garimpieros leave a trail of destruction with polluted lakes and pools of water in which nothing can grow. Dead trees stand, stripped forlorn (below), in what resembles a World War 1 battlefield ... a stark reminder of the fact that the territory is roughly the size of Belgium (which has since recovered somewhat from the Battle of the Somme).
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