Ninja Miners of Mongolia

A 21st-century gold rush is taking place in Mongolia.
Its huge gold reserves were only discovered after the former Soviet satellite started democratic reforms in 1990. Now, gold fever has gripped the country, with an estimated 100,000 Mongolians working as informal miners, many of them herders who have left their flocks behind.

Known as "ninja" miners — with their plastic gold-panning basins slung over their backs, they resemble TV's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — they do not possess the necessary mining licenses and thus operate illegally.

Find more stories from Mongolia at http://www.NPR.org.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• 2009
• npr
• national public radio
• mongolia
• asia
• mining
• gold
• news
• environment
• ninja
• louisa lim
• ariana lindquist

[breakfastbythesea]

Most of this stuff is hype. 2 million people in a land 5 times the size of texas. 1 million live in the capital city alone. Go a little east and the fields are numerous and green. This report is a snapshot, not the entire story.

-Humanitarian in Ulan Bator Summer '08.

[MrHairyNutz]

This comment was copied from idontgiveashit com

[deathmarch5]

just going into rothchilds vault till he has it all and we are slaving for carbon credits the richest slave lives like a cave man with fendi bags. LOL

[ninelivecat]

That's bad The Gold should belong to the indigenous people there not the big greedy mining companies who just pull in and take it all away It could help improve their quality of life for their families They are being sold out History repeats itself again and again

[TheMightyCult]

Yep. It's actually pretty good advice right now.

[hasbet]

these dudes dont look like ninujas at all!

[bimangar]

You are not seeing the point there. The real fault lies in the fact that we're trying to make everything so progressive and efficient that we forget to draw the line between what is just a mere desire and what is really needed. Wow, I just can't believe how ignorant your comment is. Why don't u cut all the trees down to only what we need? Why don't u kill all the landscape down to only what we need? Tell me which part in your divine plan is sustainable? I think it's destructive.

[MastaRikta]

The arbitrary value we place on some minerals is so deleterious...

[dmnxCGi]

lol nice

[ladollyvita]

their government sold them out to the highest bidder.

[Mithrand87]

Its not that we have become more foolish. It is that agricultural technology has advanced so far than only a very small percentage of people is necessary to sustain all of us.

The real issue therefore is how to use 75% of people now unneeded in the farms-- getting them to live a more sustainable lifestyle, etc

[mutatedmushrooms]

Hmm, so then why does npr say what they say? Just to make the story more interesting?