The shaft ends in a cramped, pitch-dark pit. Thebottom widens a bit to reveal a tiny, wedge-shapedcrevice. In the darkness, sitting cross-legged with aflashlight strapped to his head, is a small boy. Hechinks at the rock walls with a handmade pickaxand scoops the shards into a large green bucket.His hands never stop moving — scooping andchipping, chipping and scooping. The older boyscall him Théophile. They say he is 7 years old.

The United Nations’ International Labor Orga-nization estimates that as many as a millionchildren between ages 5 and 17 work in thesmall-scale gold mines of Africa for as little as$2 a day. In the African Sahel, a semiarid regionthat stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to theRed Sea across parts of Mali, Ghana, BurkinaFaso, and Niger, 30 percent to 50 percent ofsmall-scale mine workers are children, accord-ing to ILO estimates. Child labor is against thelaw in Burkina Faso, where last year the govern-ment announced a plan to significantly reducethe numbers of exploited children by 2015. Butenforcement is lacking.

The U.S. Department of Labor also is funding afour-year, $5 million project in Burkina Faso, oneof the world’s poorest nations, to reduce childlabor in cotton farming and gold mining. Thegrant will be used to help raise awareness aboutchild labor laws and build government capacityto monitor and enforce the laws, said Eric Biel,acting associate deputy undersecretary for theBureau of International Labor Affairs.

The project aims to help 1,000 householdsand 10,000 children avoid “exploitative childlabor” by offering schooling, financing, and al-ternative employment.

Child labor in the gold mines here is so preva-lent — and so obvious — that the U.S. govern-ment prohibits its agencies and contractorsfrom buying the gold directly from BurkinaFaso. The prohibition, however, does not extendto private dealers.

Observers say porous borders, which facili-tate black-market trades, and the very nature ofthe world gold supply chain make tracking goldmined in Burkina Faso almost impossible. Fur-thermore, federal purchases of gold from legiti-mate international sellers do not necessarilypreclude some of the gold originating here.

The Canada-based Artisanal Gold Council,which is working to implement tracking sys-tems and promote fair-trade policies, says thereare no hard data to pinpoint whether goldmined by children in Burkina Faso reaches theUnited States or ends up in jewelry purchasedby Americans. Anthony Persaud, a policy andfield operations coordinator for the council,says it is “unlikely” but not out of the question.

Burkina Faso does not refine its gold but sellsit through exporters to refiners in Dubai andEurope, he says. From there the gold enters theworld supply chain.

“The thing about gold, you can fit $50,000 of itin your pocket without anybody noticing,” says

CHILD LABOR from A1

See CHILD LABOR on A19

AtlanticOcean

AFRICA

Area ofmap above

NMILES

0 200

ALGERIA

MAURITANIA

NIGER

Ouagadougou

NIGERIA

IVORYCOAST

GHANA

GUINEA

GAMBIA

SIERRALEONE

LIBERIA

WESTERNSAHARA

GUINEABISSAU

BENIN

TOGO

SENEGALNigerRiver

MALI

Burkina Faso

Population: 17,812,961(July 2013 est.)

Pop. below 46.7%poverty line (2009 est.)

Labor force 90% agriculture

The Philadelphia Inquirer

SOURCE: CIA World Factbook

A child reacts to one of the makeshift, ore-crushingmachines that frequently spew clouds of dust, which coatsthe children from their heads to their bare feet. Water isscarce, so the children use the bilge water from themachines to wash their faces and brush their teeth.

Children fetch water from the bottomof a 25-foot well. At the surface, theyuse the water to pan for gold. Whennot working, they sleep, oblivious to

deafening noises around them.

Gripping knotted ropes, Joseph, 15, and Germain, 12, work their way down a hand-dug, 150-foot-deep mine shaft near Kollo, a mining village near Tiébélé, Burkina Faso.

The rock-grindingmachines are

ramshacklecontraptions put

together withpulleys, belts,and spinning

motors with thepower to rip

and shredanything caught

in their works.

AmidouZuretnaba, 3,rests his headon the thighof his father, aminer at theFandjora miningarea. Child laboris against the lawin Burkina Faso,but enforcementis lacking.

The illsare many.Childrenwho workare notin school.

A18 | THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER | SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013 C | INQUIRER.COM