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A piece of gold on the palm of one hand

Image source, Getty Images

Photo foot, Illegal miners work in mines that were previously owned by large multinationals. But they were abandoned by those companies because they were no longer profitable.

    • Author, Mayweni Jones
    • Author's title, BBC News, Johannesburg

This story contains details that can hurt the sensitivity of some people.

The most shocking thing for Jonathan, who endured six exhausting months living and working underground in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, was the abuse he witnessed against minors.

Some are recruited as cheap labor, but others are specifically brought to be sexually abused, according to activists.

Jonathan, who is now around 30, emigrated to South Africa with the promise of making easy money working in one of the tens of mines abandoned by multinationals because they were no longer commercially viable.

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