They say, fortune favours the bold and the brave. But that is not necessarily the case, as Bethlehem Shakuna will be the first to tell you. For the brave and bold miners who are out digging for gold 12 hours a day in the small town of Gogle, Bero Wereda, down south in West Omo Zone, it is a game of pure luck.

"You could be digging for 20 years and only be able to feed yourself and secure a place to live," Bethlehem said.

On the other hand, you could also make around a million Birr digging through one auspicious hole, like the 30-year-old and his friends had nearly four years ago.

"I am one of the lucky ones," said the gold miner, who has been mining since his high school days. "I hit the jackpot a few months after the government initiated us into an association and gave us land to work on."

This was in 2016, three years after he finished 10th grade and turned his summer exploits into a full-time occupation. Since then, he has been serving as chairperson for an association of 200 miners in his neighbourhood.

"It's very difficult in the beginning," he said. "I spent whatever money I made and lived in a house with 20 other friends who were also miners."

The community in the Shola Kebele, where the miners live, nearly five kilometres away from the mining site is a very tight-knit one. They work and live together.

It takes at least four miners to discover gold. One person is tasked with digging the hole, down to six kilometres into the earth, until they reach the sweet spot dubbed letowhere gold is supposedly waiting to be extracted. Another hauls the dug-up earth in a bucket that is pulled up by a third, and the final person is in charge of washing the precious gold in a gebete.

It is a physically taxing job, but one that feeds the whole community, according to Bethlehem.

"We share everything, because we know the nature of the job," he said. "You may be lucky today, but tomorrow you may need someone's help."

Bethlehem's lucky strike was how he bought two houses in the neighbourhood, one a small bar, a grocery as it is more commonly known, and the other where he shows movies and football matches through his DStv satellite.

Artisinal miners like Bethlehem, living in different parts of the country, are the main reason that the export from minerals has grossed over 200 million dollars this year, accounting for seven percent of the total export revenue generated by the country. Gold alone accounts for six percent of the country's foreign exchange.

This has boosted mineral exports after consecutive years of a downward spiral that culminated in an all-time low of 49.8 million dollars the previous year. This is in stark contrast to the highest recorded number five years ago of 654 million dollars.

In Southern Nations, Nationalities & Peoples' Regional State, where Bethlehem lives, there has been 341kg of gold mined this past fiscal year, according to Eyasu Mamo, director at the region's Mines & Energy Agency.

"There've been major works undertaken to strengthen this sector," he said. "The price by which the National Bank of Ethiopia buys gold (NBE) has increased, and this has deterred the illegal sale of minerals greatly."

The Agency has also driven up its budget from 800,000 to a little over one million Br, dedicated to getting more professionals involved in staking out areas for mining and allocating more security personnel according to Eyasu.

"The area is on the border with Gambela," he said. "It's known to have an armed militia, so we've deployed additional security personnel."

This has been good news for Bethlehem and his miner friends, who prefer working the night shifts as the weather is less warm.

But the surprising turn of events has come from the effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) itself. The border closures enforced to minimise the spread of the pandemic have restricted the illicit trade of minerals across the border, according to the director.

"What has been detrimental to other sectors has benefited this one," he said.

The amendment in the price at which gold is being bought by the NBE has played the biggest role, according to Betru Haile, mineral transaction competence insurance director at the Ministry of Mines & Petroleum.

"The National Bank is now buying gold at a higher price than the global market value," he said. "It has increased the price of gold, scaling up by 29pc compared with the previous price depending on the amount."

This has brought on more licensed gold buyers and miners to sell directly to one of the nine buying stations across the country. Before the changes in the regulation at the end of March, there was a little over 700kg of gold produced in a period of seven months in the country, according to data from the Ministry. However, a total of 2,632kg of gold was produced in the three months following the amendment in pricing.

Ezana Mining Development Plc, currently the most significant player in the field, brought in 700kg. Still, it has been the combined efforts of artisanal miners like Bethlehem that have brought in the bulk, according to Betru.