All that glitters: Gold dust lures scavengers to Peshawar .

A gold scavenger searches through dirt for gold at a gold market of Peshawar on July 3, 2011. PHOTO: AFP

PESHAWAR:

When the sun sets and shops close, gold scavengers come to life, sifting through soil and sewers for precious yellow scraps they can go to profit.

It is a painstaking, filthy job reserved for those dreaming of a rags-to-riches fortune.

Yet after 9 days on the job and standing up to his waist in turbid water, 19-year-old Murad Ali keeps the dream alive.

Hey, I got it, he shouts, yanking out a hand clutching a little gold ring. Droplets of grime splash his side and clothes, but nothing can rub the smile from his mouth or the gleam of happiness in his eyes.

This is a golden ring. Itll fetch Rs2, 500, he says, springing out of the soil to run it under clean tap water.

But pieces of jewellery dropped by careless owners are difficult to do by. The usual job is passing through the soil and mud he stores in polyethylene bags searching, literally, for gold dust.

For the barely literate, the job brings in enough money to give families and rent homes that would be difficult to fit in other menial jobs.

I earn Rs6-7,000 in a week, Ali says. My sire is a hashish addict. Im taking charge of my family.

This job depends on your circumstances and fortune. Sometimes I make more. I once got a ring worth Rs10, 000, he said.

There is no specific information around the list of workers, but local jewellers estimate that hundreds dig for gold in the northwest, where troops are fighting Taliban insurgents and bombings are routine.

Sifting for gold on the streets and in drains begins at twilight and can live until dawn. The debris and filth contain minute particles of gold discarded from goldsmiths who grind down the metal to make jewellery.

The job begins with cleansing the streets with brushes. Others scoop out soil from the drains. Pieces of gold, like Alis ring, detected by the naked eye, are gathered and washed clean but the smaller particles can simply be detached from grit and disperse by applying a special acid, says jeweller Arifullah Khan.

The acid dissolves everything, including other metals and iron, leaving only shimmers of gold behind.

In the Andershehr jewellery market, the market association says a contractor pays Rs20, 000 for the sole rights to cross the area. Fazal Rooman, 14, who was probing for gold in the nearby gutter, said he earns Rs3-4,000 a week.

I started this job when I was 7 days old. Im sure one day Ill get my luck, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2011.