(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-121203-venezuela-da-07.photoblog900.jpg)Jorge Silva / ReutersAn aerial view shows an illegal mine in the jungle in southern Venezuela.(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-121203-venezuela-da-05.photoblog900.jpg)Jorge Silva / ReutersAn illegal miner or garimpeiro works in a mine close to the Ikabaru river in southern Venezuela.(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-121203-venezuela-da-02.380;380;7;70;0.jpg)Jorge Silva / ReutersRough diamonds are seen on the desk of a trader in his office in Santa Elena de Uairen in the south of Venezuela.In the triangle that connects Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana a huge number of illegal gold and diamond prospectors —
garimpeiros — dream of changing their lives overnight by finding a huge bonanza.
Writing on Reuters' photographers blog (http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2012/12/03/dreaming-of-diamonds/), Jorge Silva describes his journey to document these remote mines:
We are just north of the Amazon Basin, riding a boat on the Ikabaru River. The passengers are people who buy gold and diamonds. They stop at each of the illegal mines that appear as craters on the river’s edge. They carry small weighing scales that seem very accurate, magnifying loupes, burners to melt the gold and separate the mercury, and some large spoons to collect it.
They are also carrying bags full of cash.
(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-121203-venezuela-da-03.photoblog900.jpg)Jorge Silva / ReutersAn illegal mine is seen in the southern Venezuelan state of Bolivar, near the border with Brazil.(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-121203-venezuela-da-01.380;380;7;70;0.jpg)Jorge Silva / ReutersA man performs maintenance while sitting on the top of an Antonov An-2 aircraft before it departs with supplies to the mines, in the town of Ikabaru in the south of Venezuela.
NBCNews