Serra Pelada (Naked Mountain) is in Brazil where giant ants swam over the... naw, just kidding.
Them be people swarming, a 100,000 of them carrying sacks of dirt weighing between 45 and 65 lbs, out of that hole.
Why? For money of course, dig, fill and carry for 20 cents a bag.
Oh, and the second reason was gold.
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A local child swimming on the banks of a local river found a 6 grams (0.21 oz) nugget of gold. Soon word leaked out that indeed da Silva was sitting upon one of the largest deposits in the world. By the end of the week a gold rush had started with thousands of people descending on the farm to mine. Five weeks later, there were 10 000 on Ferreira's property and another 12 000 nearby. Huge nuggets were quickly discovered, the biggest weighing nearly 15 lb, $108,000 at the 1980 market price.
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Early in the history of the mine, the Brazilian military took over operations to prevent exploitation of the workers and conflict between miners and owners. Before the military takeover basic goods were sold for hugely inflated prices by the mine owners; water cost $3 a litre
While the military government banned women and alcohol at the actual mine, the nearby town became a town of "stores and whores". Thousands of underage girls prostituted themselves for gold flakes while around 60–80 unsolved murders occurred in the town every month.
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What a great opportunity, vacation there, come back in great shape, and maybe find enough gold to pay for your whole vacation.
Officially they dug 45 tons of gold out of that hole, but word on the street is 90% was smuggled away uncounted.
Photo credit: Sebastião Salgado
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