The Guardian: Nigerian gold mining: farmers choose death by lead poisoning over poverty
“… Villagers who make 10 times as much money mining as they do from farming have told [environmental scientist, Simba] Tirima they would rather die of lead poisoning than poverty. ‘They are not going to stop. I saw a woman who had lost eight kids, but she is still mining,” said mines minister Musa Sada… “The only way around it is to invest in getting better methods for mining, provide modern equipment and get a more structured industry for these people to work in.’…” (Mark, 3/17).