Kenya Gold Rush: A remote village in western Kenya has turned into an unlikely gold-hunting ground after a local goat herder found a small amount of gold. Thousands of people have since arrived hoping to make their own discovery.
Local officials say the crowd once swelled to around 10,000 people. It has now dropped to about 2,500 as some people have left after failing to find gold. He was searching for a lost goat when he came across several women looking for gold near a river.
Lomachar says his discovery happened by chance. He says local miners plan to seek government support for equipment such as metal detectors, which could help them establish whether other minerals are present and guide further exploration. He believes news of his discovery and the money he made soon spread, bringing more people to Cheporor. It is still unclear whether Lomachar’s discovery brought so many people to the village or whether other recent gold discoveries also added to the rush. He joined them and discovered that gold could be found in the area. More experienced miners have begun digging deeper holes and breaking rocks in the hope of finding larger deposits. Local authorities are concerned about the impact of thousands of people gathering in an area with limited sanitation and no piped water supply. Health workers have been deployed to monitor conditions and help prevent the spread of disease. Authorities are waiting for the results to establish how much gold the area may contain and whether the deposit could support commercial mining.
