The National Times - 'Happy suffering': the Brazilian gold rush that spawned iconic pictures

Salgado's 1986 black-and-white photos of hundreds of men with pickaxes and spades working in the Serra Pelada open-pit mine travelled the world, depicting the hellish conditions in which people were still toiling in the late 20th century.

"I never saw anything like it," the photographer, who died in May at the age of 81, said of the columns of men he saw clambering up the steep sides of the mine on ladders, with massive sacks of earth on their backs.

The mine, which was closed down by authorities in 1992, is covered by a lake in the present day.

But some veterans of its heyday remain consumed by the prospect of the riches hidden under their feet.

Chico Osorio was one of the miners who struck gold at Serra Pelada in the 1980s.

He extracted more than a tonne of gold from the mine, which he used to fund a lavish lifestyle, but in an all-too-familiar, rags-to-riches-and-back-again tale, he squandered much of his fortune.

Now aged 77, and on crutches, the elderly miner with chiseled features continues to dig the earth.

He only manages to extract a few grams a week on his plot, which is within striking distance of Serra Pelada, but he still dreams of making it big again.

- 'Happy suffering' -

Other former "garimpeiros," as illegal gold miners are known in Brazil, who joined the gold rush in the 1980s, also remained behind in Serra Pelada, now a town of some 6,000 people.

Despite the grim conditions in which they labored, they are nostalgic for what they recall as a golden period.

"It was a time of plenty, everyone was happy, even those who didn't find gold, because they were driven by a dream," said Lucindo Ferreira, 72, who proudly keeps old magazines that published Salgado's images.

"It was a kind of happy suffering," said Francisco Aderbal, a 63-year-old fellow former miner who is now a town councilor.

"We went up and down those ladders without feeling the fatigue," Aderbal, who like Ferreira has little to show for his backbreaking work, insisted.

Creuza Maria de Conceicao witnessed the frenzy up close, as a former cook for the miners.

"People are attracted by gold but their riches quickly slip through their fingers," the 64-year-old said, as she embroidered a cushion with motifs of miners.

- A new chapter -

Ferreira accepts that the chaotic 1980s model of illegal gold digging is a thing of the past but hopes to see industrial miners move in.

Brazil has the world's ninth-largest estimated gold reserves, according to the US Geological Survey.

Canadian company Colossus Minerals acquired a significant stake in Serra Pelada in 2006, but abandoned it in 2014 in the face of financial difficulties.

Since returning to power in 2023, left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has stepped up the fight against illegal gold mining, which is blamed in part for destroying vast chunks of the Amazon rainforest.

In Serra Pelada, the younger generations seem ready to turn the page on the past.

"Many garimpeiros dream of taking up illegal mining again, but young people want to go to university," said 19-year-old Gabriel Vieira.

Nearly 40 years after Salgado's photos, Vieira has founded a video production company to retell the story of his hometown, this time in motion and with color.

S.Mitchell--TNT