Located in the eastern region of India, Jharkhand is home to a majority of India's mineral wealth. About a third of the population of Jharkhand is tribal as per a census study conducted by the Jharkhand State Government in 2001. Thus, while agriculture is practiced by some landed farmers, traditional occupations provide an additional livelihood to the tribal population. One such occupation is the practice of sifting gold out of the soil. It is an everyday activity that involves the sifting of mineral-rich riverine soil, which contains tiny particles of gold. The Jhura tribe is well-known for the 'spewing' of gold, but members of the Urav, Kol, Ravtiya, Tati, Dom, Ghasi, Jura, Lohra, Podha, Munda, Mahto and Khandapatro tribes also depend on retrieving these minuscule amounts of gold for a livelihood.
