The Human Cost of Gold: Women Selling Sex in Amazon's Illegal Mines

Selling Sex for Gold in the Amazon’s Illegal Mines

In the depths of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, women like Dayane Leite find themselves navigating a harrowing world of violence and exploitation. Driven by poverty and the lure of quick money, many women enter the dangerous orbit of illegal gold mines, risking everything to support their families.

A Life of Hardship and Survival

Dayane’s journey began at 17 when her husband’s sudden death left her unable to afford his funeral. Living in Itaituba, Brazil’s illegal gold-mining hub, she turned to sex work in the mines to raise money.

Now, at 34, Dayane has spent 16 years alternating between jobs as a cook, washerwoman, and sex worker in remote mining camps to support her seven children.

“Going to the mines is a roll of the dice,” Dayane says. “The women are seriously humiliated there.”

Life in Mining Villages

The mining camps are harsh, isolated, and dangerous. Most consist of dirt tracks, makeshift bars, and churches. Women working as cooks live alongside the men, enduring primitive conditions and the constant threat of violence.

When miners strike gold, they head to the nearest village, flush with cash and ready to spend. Natalia Cavalcante, a former sex worker and brothel madam, recalls persuading some to shower before paying for services.

Natalia eventually left the trade after making enough money to buy a home, a motorbike, and even gold as payment. She dreams of studying to become a lawyer or architect.

The Hidden Human Cost of Gold

The environmental damage caused by illegal gold mining is well-documented, but the human toll often goes unreported. The UN cites violence, sexual exploitation, and trafficking as pervasive issues in these camps.

Women face brutal conditions, including physical abuse and exploitation.
Murders are not uncommon. In 2022, 26-year-old Raiele Santos was killed after refusing a miner’s sexual advances.

Brazil’s illegal gold-mining area doubled in size over the past decade, now spanning 220,000 hectares. Estimates suggest there are between 80,000 and 800,000 illegal miners, though precise figures remain elusive.

Efforts to Curb Illegal Mining

Under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s government has made strides to shut down illegal mines and cut off gold sales from these operations. However, the high price of gold continues to drive men — and the women who follow them — into this treacherous world.

Dreams Amidst Despair

Dayane dreams of leaving the mines for good and opening a snack bar to provide a better life for her children. Yet she knows the odds are stacked against her.

“I will keep trying, until I can’t any more,” she says. “One day, my children will say: ‘My mum worked so hard. She never gave up.’”