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As the yellowish mud swirls away in the waters of Thailand’s Sai Buri river, Sunisa Srisuwanno lifts her wooden pan with a cluster of gleaming specks caught in the centre.
“That’s 100 baht,” she said, pointing to grains worth about $3.30 after little more than 15 minutes work with her gold panning partner, Boonsom Aeamprasert.
With global gold prices near an all-time high, the women are a rare bright spot for an economy hard hit by the collapse of tourism amid coronavirus travel restrictions.
“The gold panning business is doing well, especially during COVID-19,” said Sunisa, a 37-year-old mother of two. “Panning gold is our main staple. We sell gold today, we are able to buy food to feed the family.”
Thai women gold panners are rare winners in COVID-hit economy Reuters 12/30/2020
By Matthew Tostevin
SUHKHIRIN, Thailand, Dec 30 (Reuters) - As the yellowish mud swirls away in the waters of Thailand s Sai Buri river, Sunisa Srisuwanno lifts her wooden pan with a cluster of gleaming specks caught in the centre. That s 100 baht, she said, pointing to grains worth about $3.30 after little more than 15 minutes work with her gold panning partner, Boonsom Aeamprasert.
With global gold prices near an all-time high, the women are a rare bright spot for an economy hard hit by the collapse of tourism amid coronavirus travel restrictions.