An old abandoned gold dredge is seen anchored by the shore of the Atrato river in Quibdó, the Pacific rainforest region of Colombia, 12 October 2019. A gold dredge is a mining machine employing an ancient artisan technique of placer gold mining (based on the different densities of gold and soil/sand) but applied by mechanical/industrial methods to increase the quantity of extracted gold. Today, advances in mining technology allowed the production of small dredges with high operation...
more »

An old abandoned gold dredge is seen anchored by the shore of the Atrato river in Quibdó, the Pacific rainforest region of Colombia, 12 October 2019. A gold dredge is a mining machine employing an ancient artisan technique of placer gold mining (based on the different densities of gold and soil/sand) but applied by mechanical/industrial methods to increase the quantity of extracted gold. Today, advances in mining technology allowed the production of small dredges with high operation efficiency, carried easily to a remote location, and so the giant mining dredges are increasingly decommissioned and left to their fate.
« less