In October 2025, Malawi mourned after a gold mine collapsed in Kasungu, killing eight people and injuring five. The tragedy exposed a dangerous reality: some of the country’s poorest people are risking their lives to extract a resource that generates billions of kwacha but offers them little security.
By December 2024, Reserve Bank of Malawi data showed that 293 kilograms of gold had been purchased from artisanal miners and licensed traders for K34 billion. Yet concerns persist that significant quantities are smuggled out of the country.
In April 2026 alone, the Reserve Bank exported 589.95 kilograms of gold, earning Malawi more than US$75 million.
Behind these impressive figures is a far darker story.
Across gold-producing communities, miners descend into unstable pits, work with rudimentary equipment and handle hazardous chemicals such as mercury. Fields and fragile landscapes are also being torn apart in the search for gold.
In this photo essay, Frontline News takes you into one of the dangerous gold mines in the area of Traditional Authority Chitantha-Mapiri, where villagers risk their lives chasing a precious metal that promises wealth but too often delivers danger, death and environmental destruction.
