Thais See Gold Lining to Floods

Severe floods that washed away homes, bridges and lives apparently have compensated hapless villagers in southern Thailand with a treasure -- gold.

Hundreds of fortune seekers armed with shovels and pans are flocking to the stream of Tham Tha Mauk village in search of the precious metal, which surfaced from stream banks after the deluge.

“The spirit of Tha Mauk [Grandfather Mauk] has given us worshipers a treasure to compensate for what we lost in the flooding,” said 60-year-old Sangad Chankhaew as he flashed a broad smile after a buyer gave him $30 in cash for a gold nugget the size of a rice grain. Sangad found the nugget 30 minutes after starting his day of panning for gold.

He was among about 50 gold diggers on the banks of the stream, scooping sand and mud into wooden pans and swishing them around in the water one recent morning.

November’s floods -- the worst the area has seen in 40 years -- caused landslides and the collapse of the stream’s banks, exposing an area for gold digging.

“The gold is more plentiful than in the past years,” said Sanguan, Sangad’s older brother. He said he and his family had made about $2,000 since they began panning after the water receded.

Sanguan’s house was lightly damaged by the floods, and part of his pineapple plantation was washed away.

The flooding swept away houses, roads and bridges in Prachuap Khiri Khan province’s Bang Saphan district, where the stream is located. In November, flash floods killed six people in Bang Saphan, 190 miles south of Bangkok, the capital.

Gold diggers have offered flowers, incense and sweets to a small spirit house erected near the stream. Local folklore has it that the spirit of Tha Mauk owns the gold-rich forest of the area and that he occasionally gives to worshipers from his stores.

Some gold buyers see their purchases here as his sacred gifts.

“This gold is a present from the holy spirit, so I bought it to keep for prosperity in my life,” said Pradit Sawangjit, 42, a pineapple plantation owner who bought the nugget from Sangad.

Many gold diggers had left jobs at pineapple and coconut plantations to look for the precious metal.

Ruangsri Polkrut, 52, traveled more than 60 miles from Chumpon province to sit on a rock by the stream for more than six hours a day to search.

“I’ve earned about 5,000 baht [$125] from three days’ panning for gold. It’s not big money but enough for the school fee of my daughter for next term,” Ruangsri said.

Tham Tha Mauk used to be a gold mining village, but gold digging ended about 30 years ago when vast swaths of forest were converted into private pineapple plantations.

“This area used to be a national forest, but the rich people turned this land into their private pineapple plantations,” Sanguan said.

“But after the water washed away part of the plantation and the banks of the stream, we had every right to look for gold again.”