Documenting artisanal gold mining in Bunda and Dodoma
Aiden O'Connell spent his 2025 summer fellowship researching artisanal gold mining and mercury exposure, with help from local journalists.
If you told me in September 2024 that 8 months later I would be doing field research in Africa I wouldn’t believe you. On an unassuming Monday afternoon in October Professor Groves, who at the time to me was just another professor at Lafayette, happened to give a guest lecture on his projects in Tanzania. Remembering the story of one of my personal hero’s, who strolled onto the deck of an aircraft carrier, asked to talk to the admiral, and for his efforts was granted a letter of recommendation to Annapolis naval college. I asked Professor Groves if he knew anybody in Africa. As it turns out he knew many people in Africa and helped organize an opportunity to do research in collaboration with ESRF. What started out as a mild interest in Africa as a result of needing to pick a topic for a research paper wound up as a life altering opportunity. A summer that could’ve consisted of clearing tables for $15 an hour turned into a career changing research opportunity in the heart of Africa.
Prior to my introduction to ESRF and Professor Groves I didn’t know a soul in Africa. However, through ESRF and professor Groves I was able to contact local journalists and insiders in the mining industry and get valuable information about what’s happening on the ground. Despite having never done any actual field research, I was able to gather information safely with the help of contacts in the country. The ESRF staff (particularly Marco and Zakayo) were very helpful when it came to arranging travel plans. I jumped at the opportunity to visit and observe a gold mine in western opportunity through one of Professor Grove’s friends, a radio host named Edward Lucas. When doing field research in Bunda, I felt like one of those journalists in the old vice documentaries that I love watching so much.
However this trip was not only to my personal benefit. While in Bunda I documented a case of probable mercury poisoning as a result of direct skin to skin contact with the substance. This exact nature of mercury poisoning in this region of the world is rarely documented so through this project I was able to become a potential very small part in the solution to a very big problem. As I would later tell my friends, “I did journalism.” I would also get to go on a visit to Dodoma, where I met local radio host Baptiste, there I got to visit another larger mine and meet with the head of mining in the Dodoma region, along with “Double M” a large artisanal mine boss. It was connections and experiences like these not possible in the U.S that made the trip to Tanzania all the more worth it.
Having the chance to go to a foreign country, interact with its people, and get the lay of the land was a truly amazing experience. It gave me valuable travel, journalism, and research experience, things that I will take with me for the rest of my life.