On a mission Gold rush!
Simon Reeve is shocked by the scale of illegal mining on his journey through South America…
Sunday, 9pm, BBC2 Factual (box set, BBC iplayer)
His last series The Americas was cut short due to the pandemic. But this week, Simon Reeve returns to South America to finally complete his epic 4,000-mile journey to travel the length of the continent.
In the first of five new episodes, he begins in Venezuela, before moving through Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, countries that are home to some of the most pristine rainforests in the world.
But as he visits the remote wilderness, Simon’s shocked to discover a huge illegal mining trade, which has caused devastation to the natural environment, polluting the landscape and destroying the habitat of thousands of endangered sloths.
‘It’s a total disaster zone,’ says Simon, as he visits a mine in Suriname. ‘Illegal gold mining is now an even more lucrative business than the cocaine trade, so scenes like this are replicated across the whole area as men, women and children tear into the earth for gold.’
Meanwhile, in French Guiana, Simon joins the French Foreign Legion on one of the organisation’s dangerous missions to tackle the scourge of illegal gold mining.
But although they come across fresh footprints, a hurriedly discarded bag of gold and a mineshaft, the miners have managed to make a getaway!
‘There are now so many illegal goldmining operations throughout South America that in some areas they’ve been a greater cause of deforestation than logging and farming,’ explains Simon. ‘The damage is astonishing. But although the area faces many threats, it’s still a vast, gloriously green wilderness and hopefully there’s still time to protect it.’