Brazil’s Massive Serra Pelada Gold Mine: Thousands Scratched In The Dirt For Treasure In the 1980s And Discovered 44.5 Ton Of Gold

Serra Pelada was a large gold mine at the south of the mouth of the Amazon river. In 1979, a farmer, Genésio Ferreira da Silva, found a nugget of gold. Soon within few days, word had spread, and people rushed towards the Serra Pelada site. After five weeks, 10,000 speculators were scratching through the soil and finding pieces of gold as large as 13 pounds.

At first, the only way to get to the remote site was by plane or foot. Miners would often pay exorbitant prices to have taxis drive them from the nearest town to the end of a dirt track; from there, they would walk the remaining distance—some 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) to the site. At its peak, an estimated 100,000 garimpeiros (an independent prospector for minerals) worked in the yawning mine. It was notorious for both murder and prostitution.

Flood ended mining operations in 1986. In six years, the officially recorded yield was 44.5 tons of gold. However, over 90% of the gold was smuggled out and sold on the black market. Today, the mine is a small, polluted lake, which still sits on top of tons of undiscovered precious metal.

#1 Workers taking the raw material from gold mine.

1 Point

Upvote Downvote

#2 For nearly 5 years, 80,000 men worked to strip 50 tons of gold from the soil. Voluntary slaves, the men made this open cast gold mine a legend.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#3 Thousands of workers in search of gold in Serra Pelada Gold Mine.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#4 Serra Pelada Gold Mine.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#5 Workers digging for the gold in Serra Pelada Gold Mine.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#6 Houses near the Serra Pelada Gold Mine.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#7 Workers taking the raw material from gold mine.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#8 A miner taking a lunch break.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#9 Workers taking a break from the digging.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#10 The fact that mercury is used to extract the gold is at the base of an ecological disaster. The mercury gets into the water and into the food chain. Everybody eats fish

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#11 Women who came to live at Serra Pelada separated the men who worked the mine from some of their gold as they relieved their suffering and solitude.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#12 Hundreds of workers carrying bags from the pit up the slopes in Serra Pelada Gold Mine, Brazil, 1980s.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#13 Antonio Chavez displays money received at local bank after cashing in gold.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#14 The mud on their faces can’t hide the smiles of two gold miners seeking pay dirt in the Amazon.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#15 Mine workers haul out 40-pound bags of ore from their owners mining claims July 15, 1985 in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#16 Mine workers use picks and shovels to break up ore in single plot claims of 6.6 feet by 9.8 feet in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#17 An overview of the gold mine July 15, 1985 shows up to 80,000 miners, , working in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#18 Mine workers, or garimpeiros, carry out 40-pound bags of ore from their owners mining claims July 15, 1985 in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#19 Mine surveyors consult a plot map July 15, 1985 of the open pit gold mine in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#20 A miner bathe on the edge of an open pit gold mine in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#21 A paymaster hands over wages July 15, 1985 to mine workers.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#22 Mine workers dig ore from a plot at the bottom of the Serra Pelada, Brazil gold mine.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#23 Mine workers carry a water pump to drain water, in Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#24 Mine workers use a wooden ladder to carry out 40-pound bags of ore, Serra Pelada, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#25 A man oversees a mining plot at the bottom of the Serra Pelada gold mine, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#26 Mine surveyors in an open pit gold mine measure off a single plot.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#27 Serra Pelada Gold Mine, Brazil.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote

#28 A young Gold Miner at Serra Pelada.

0 Points

Upvote Downvote