The name of Serra Pelada, located in the Para state of Brazil, has once again started resonating across the world. Once this place was famous for those who extracted gold from the mountains of mud. Once again such news is coming out, according to which there is so much gold buried beneath this small village that this area can suddenly be counted among the richest places in the world, but the environment of Amazon is paying the price of this greed. Forests are being cut, rivers have become poisonous and the use of mercury has put the future of the earth in danger.

In the 1980s, the condition of Serra Pelada was no less than a battlefield. Thousands of people used to come to extract gold by hanging themselves from ropes on the mud walls. The pictures of that period shook the whole world. Naked workers, mountains crumbling, lives slipping in the mud. Many people lost their lives here, but the shine of gold made every danger small.

Fate picked up, then took everything away
diamonddetailsmcr.co.uk Chico Osorio, a laborer from the state of Pará, is a unique name recorded in the history of Serra Pelada. In the year 1982, when he heard the news of gold on the radio, he left everything and reached the mine. His luck shone and he extracted about 700 kg of gold in three years. According to today’s price, this amount is more than Rs 900 crore. He bought two aeroplanes, machines and deposited money in the bank to secure his future. However, after a few years the mine was closed for safety reasons and the bank in which it kept its earnings went bankrupt. The machines which once used to extract gold are now rusted. Instead of hopes, Osorio is left with only an empty pit and memories.

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