A city in Somalia where a cup of tea was once bought for gold

A city in Somalia where a cup of tea was once bought for gold

A young man's body was recently taken out of a gold pit in Milho area, where a large-scale rescue operation was carried out. So what do we know about this gold-rich place?

Malho, which is described as the area where gold is mined the most in Somalia, belongs to the Sanaag region, especially under the ancient district of Lasqory on the waters of the Red Sea.

The area is located in the area known as "Macagta" which is where the Almadow Mountains start.

Geographically, the area consists of low hills, plains, valleys and valleys with steep slopes.

All these areas are densely forested. It is an area that is rich in water, and the streams run through water called "badowloho" and that makes it easier for people to stay there for a long time, even though the area is hot and some people go to the cities in the cold area during the summer.

How did Milho's gold start?

In the past Milho was a small village that depended on nomads, but about five years ago it started to become a gold center where people are increasing day by day.

According to what we quoted from the Mayor of Milho, Saed Mohamed Jama "BulBul", one of the people who are heavily involved in the gold business in Milho, for the first time the gold was collected from the surface of the ground with tools that were searched for hours. In the past, most of the people used to go to the stream in the morning.

At that time, most of the people who worked were local people, and even women and children were sought after. They used to be bought from and were contacted by a few companies that were there at that time.

After a while, the sand in the streams was collected, and then it was separated by working with water-filled sieves, and thus the gold was soaked in it. The work that is going on in this way later moved on to the digging of the pits.

Digging the holes was started by hand, then it was switched to machines that attached a thin steel drill. Then it was the time when people increased, and they were coming from different places. Entire communities in the Macagta area have been completely evacuated through salt marshes.

Milho was founded and nicknamed the "golden city" and brought together many people who trade in gold, and the buildings in the area increased. Many shops, businesses and shops have been opened.

When a cup of tea was bought with gold

At the beginning of this year 2022, it happened that in the city of Milxo, gold took the place of money, and everything was traded in gold.

In this city, the electronic money that is used for telephones is used to buy things, and at that time there was a time when Athens was cut off and it was possible to buy gold.

''When Athens was destroyed, everything stopped, and there was no way to trade because most of the people did not know each other when they arrived there. No one trusted anyone else, days after Athens did not return, they began to trade gold, even teacups,'' said Hersi Adam Hersi, one of the local goldsmiths.

At this time, there are hundreds of pits dug in Milho, most of them are dug up to 30m below, and there are no engineers to design the pits because it can be dangerous. Each hole is dug as they wish by the men who share the business.

This has led to many dangers, such as the cave collapsing like the last one that killed a young man named Mohamed Saed Ali. In the same way, about 10 people have already collapsed in that street, and some of them were not pulled out and thus became graves.

There are about 15 factories based in the area, which are known as "factories ila meerayso", and they are the ones that separate the sand brought from the pit into gold and ordinary sand.

In that area, at least 5KG of gold is found per day, and one gram is sold for $38, according to Abdirahman Abdullahi Hassan "Birimo", one of the experts in the gold business in this area.

He said on his Facebook page that Milho is "the city where the biggest gold mining center in Somalia is located".

That gold is tax free. There was a time when the local people formed a committee and after that it was decided to tax both the gold and the pits, control the mining and leave some land for animals to graze. But its implementation has not continued.

Currently, mining is free for everyone, and the area has no management or control.