It’s just past noon and the sound of chisels and hammers hitting against each other emanates from 150 feet below the top of Mazoa. The Mazoa Mountain, a peak in the Marudi mountain range in the Rupununi, has seen gold mining activities for decades, but its destruction only began a few years ago during a gold rush.
Over the years, miners flocked to the area with large machinery such as excavators, dredges, and mechanical crushers to mine for gold, and the influx produced severe environmental damage which is far from being reversed.