Migori County
Gold belt sustains 158,000 artisanal miners—$37 million annually but mercury contaminates water and soil. By 2026: formalization succeeds or poisoning continues.
Migori exists because gold exists—specifically, the Migori Greenstone Belt, a 245 km² extension of Tanzania's Lake Victoria Goldfields straddling Kenya's southwestern border. For generations, artisanal miners have extracted gold from this ore-rich zone, developing an informal economy that now involves approximately 158,000 people and injects an estimated $37 million annually into local circulation.
The gold economy operates through thousands of small-scale operations: families own mines, men dig shafts, women and children process ore. Mercury amalgamation extracts gold cheaply but creates toxic legacy. A 2023 study found groundwater within 6 kilometers of mine sites exceeding Kenya's safe drinking water limits. Tailings contaminate agricultural land; sweet potatoes grown near mines show elevated heavy metals. The classic resource curse plays out at micro-scale: short-term extraction wealth versus long-term environmental degradation.
2025 brought reform pressure. Governor Ochilo Ayacko negotiated with the State Department to establish mercury-free demonstration sites at Osiri Macalder and Kehancha. The MOU aims to eliminate mercury emissions through training, modern equipment, and broader market access for artisanal miners. planetGOLD Kenya's intervention suggests international attention to the sector's environmental and health costs.
The county exhibits classic informal extraction dynamics: significant economic contribution, minimal regulation, substantial externalities. By 2026, Migori's trajectory depends on whether government intervention can formalize artisanal mining sustainably—capturing gold revenue while stopping the poisoning of water, soil, and people that currently accompanies every ounce extracted.