This photo taken on May 20, 2017 shows an excavator at an illegal gold mine located along the banks of the Tabir river in West Tabir, Indonesia's Sumatra island. -AFP
WEST TABIR, INDONESIA: Hulking excavators claw at riverbanks on Indonesia’s Sumatra island in the hunt for gold, transforming what was once a rural idyll into a scarred, pitted moonscape.
It is one of a huge number of illegal gold mines that have sprung up across the resource-rich archipelago as the price of the precious metal has soared, luring people in rural areas to give up jobs in traditional industries.
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