A National Army of Colombia soldier, who was wounded by a mine, swims at a pool in Bello, municipality of Antioquia, March 25, 2015. (Photo by Fredy Builes/Reuters)

Ender Moreno looks for gold at La Culebra gold mine in El Callao, Bolivar state, southeastern Venezuela on March 1, 2017. Although life in the mines of eastern Venezuela is hard and dangerous, tens of thousands from all over the country head for the mines daily in overcrowded trucks, pushed by the rise in gold prices and by the severe economic crisis affecting the country, aggravated recently by the drop in oil prices. (Photo by Juan Barreto/AFP Photo)

Semi-feral, conservation ponies, graze on the salt marsh's of Gower, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom on September 7, 2022. (Photo by Joann Randles/Cover Images)

A cat disrupts between Mexico's Tigres UANL and Real Salt Lake during a quarterfinals match as part of the Leagues Cup 2019 at Rio Tinto Stadium on July 24, 2019 in Sandy, Utah. (Photo by Jeff Swinger/USA TODAY Sports)

At 10,582 square kilometres, the Bolivian salt flats – otherwise known as Salar de Uyuni – are the largest on the planet and contain between 50 and 70% of the world’s lithium reserves. After exploring Chile and Argentina, photographer Joel Santos decided to travel to Bolivia in January 2017 to check the salt flats off his bucket list. With an electrical storm rolling in, Joel and his two travelling companions were the only souls left on the vast flats and captured the eerie flats without a person in sight. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

A dancer of Potosi's government departament, poses with traditional costumes at the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, in Uyuni, Bolivia, on November 7, 2020. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP Photo)

A tourist is seen at the Caka Salt Lake in Wulan County, northwest China's Qinghai Province, September 4, 2020. (Photo by Zhang Long/Xinhua News Agency)

Nestled among the cocoa plantations of western Ivory Coast is a gold mine that does not feature on any official maps. It is not run by an industrial mining company, nor does it pay taxes to the central government. The unlicensed mine is a key part of a lucrative business empire headed by the deputy commander of the West African nation's elite Republican Guard, United Nations investigators allege. Here: A gold prospector sits and eats close to a soldier at a gold mine near the village of Gamina, in western Ivory Coast, March 18, 2015. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)