. >> reporter: this is theophile. he's tossing shards of ore into a bucket 150 feet below ground. his eyes are glassy and his movements are rote, trained by repetition and circumstance. down in this cramped, humid space, theophile's small body moves about more freely than an adult's would. >> i thought i was near the bottom, and then i realized there's another 40 or 50 feet to go. >> reporter: a fact photojournalist larry price found out for himself as he descended the shaft to meet the boy. >> this has really, really been hard to get down this far. this shaft is about four to five feet in diameter, and at its narrowest, it's probably less than 28 inches. and as you can see, there's not too much in the way of footholds, so i really had to sort of just inch my way down. >> reporter: above ground is the small mining village of kollo, one of the many boomtowns that's sprung up over the last few years in burkina faso. slightly larger than colorado in acreage-- and among the poorest countries in the world-- this landlocked nation of 18 million people is a relative newcomer to the gold