The World Cup is made of gold. That’s probably one of the reasons every nation wants to be part of the tournament. Teams play, some loose and one winner takes the Cup home for the next four years.

The gold of the World Cup may have come from the best mining companies in the world, among which are many prosperous South African companies. But the precious natural resource is fuelling a conflict in places like Welkom, where illegal mining is taking place on a large scale. For some people in parts of Africa, illegal gold prospecting is their only means of survival and they will go to extreme lengths to get access to the mineral.

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