Asset or time bomb?  Niger is a country composed mainly of young people whose average age is estimated at 20 years, according to the 2012 general population census of the national institute of statistics. Unfortunately, many of them have not attended modern schools. Most of them carry out rural activities or go on an exodus to engage in trade, gold panning, … And Ali Amadou is one of them. “Dialogue Migration” met him at the bus station called STM in the center of Niamey, on January 12, 2023 around 9 p.m., as he was preparing to take a bus to go in search of Algerian gold.

Bus ticket in hand, prayer rug under the left armpit, Ali Amadou prepares to embark for the city of Arlit in the north of the country. His final destination, the Algerian land. In his thirties, this young Nigerien native of the village called Singuel Moriben in the commune of Karma about 30 km from the capital Niamey, is determined to continue his adventure in this country located in the Northern part of Africa to try gold panning.

Full of vigor, this man of one meter seventy with a beautiful haircut has already traced his route. Ali Amadou intends to go to the north of the country, to Agadez precisely in Arlit, before joining his boss and smuggler at the same time. “Our departure is organized from Arlit.  It is in this transit locality that I will meet my smuggler, also my boss. He is already waiting for me there. It is once there that he will inform me of the date of our expenditure for Algeria,” he said. According to him, the Algerian border is constantly under surveillance. For this reason, he says, it is necessary to have information on the movements of the security forces on the border before any movement in the area can be made. “When I arrived in Arlit, I put myself at the disposal of my employer, who took care of me entirely. He pledged to drive me to Algeria and provide for my daily needs,” he said.

“Success in Algeria is like a game of chance. And the stake is often our life”

If crossing the Sahara does not constitute a major danger, leading the life of a gold miner in addition to being in an irregular situation is a great risk. With a smile on his face, Ali is optimistic. “Certainly, life is demanding in gold panning sites, but that doesn’t scare me,” he said. According to him, “Success in Algeria is like a game of chance. And the stake is often our life.”

Ali, who is not on his first trip, is a great connoisseur of migratory routes, the vicissitudes of the journey and the controls on gold panning sites. He does not fail to share his experiences: “You have to pray that the military patrols do not surprise you on the site, because we exercise without authorization, so in hiding. And sometimes your employer denounces you in complicity with the natives just to not pay you. Once, my comrades and I were chased by the patrol helicopter. We had to spend more than 24 hours in a cave and walk for days before finding a car to reach Arlit and Niger.”

For Ali, illegal gold miners in Algeria would like to regularize themselves if the opportunity is offered to them. Also, he laments, they do not know what to do in terms of process in order to obtain a license to practice. “We do not know how to obtain the right of residence or the authorizations to practice gold panning legally. If there is such a possibility, we will contribute as much money as it takes to get it,” says Ali, with his shy look, immersed in a very deep dream; before taking leave of Dialogue Migration and leaving for Arlit, a town in the north of Niger.