Galamsey takes its name from the pidgin phrase meaning “gather them and sell,” used to describe the illegal gold miners working across West Africa. With little more than a pickaxe, these miners dig narrow shafts hundreds of feet underground in pursuit of gold. It is a world of extreme risk, quiet ingenuity, and moral ambiguity—one that writer and director Lucy knows intimately.

Before filmmaking, Lucy worked as an exploration geologist for a gold mining company in West Africa. Her days were spent analysing drilled rock samples, searching for the geological signatures that signal buried wealth. It was here—quite literally in the exploration chair—that the idea for Galamsey was born. Illegal mining often unfolds in the shadows of industrial operations, and explorers routinely read the presence of galamsey miners as a clue to where gold may lie. In essence, Lucy and the galamseys were engaged in the same pursuit: locating gold and extracting it from the earth, albeit from opposite sides of a fragile legal and economic divide.

This rare proximity gave Lucy a front-row seat to a hidden world. She observed how miners moved, how towns sprang up overnight, and how legality shifted depending on land ownership—where miners could be deemed criminals in one place and artisanal workers in another. Her scientific training sharpened her observational eye; her time in the field grounded her storytelling in lived experience rather than abstraction.

Following the 2008 global financial crisis, soaring gold prices triggered a modern gold rush. Across countries such as Burkina Faso, entire communities abandoned farming and migrated to makeshift mining towns. As industrial operations expanded to capitalise on the boom, conflict intensified. Money flooded these settlements, bringing with it exploitation, addiction, and a dangerous underworld that trapped many who entered and never returned.

Drawn to the human stories behind the geology, Lucy began writing—listening to miners, locals, and colleagues who lived alongside this reality. From these encounters emerged Adama and his two closest friends, Zeba and Moussa. The short film marks the beginning of their journey. Lucy’s background as a geologist gives her storytelling rare authenticity, depth, and authority—allowing her to deep dive into the forces shaping their lives.