Editor's Note:
Lake Retba, a striking pink lake in the northwest of Senegal, is famous for its high salinity and the pink algae flourishing in its waters. The popular tourist destination has now become a major salt producing factory, as locals toil to extract salt from the lake to sell on the international market.
These scenes reveal a sharp contrast between the beautiful natural surroundings of the lake, and the hardship endured by the workers tasked with mining this white gold.
Photos: CFP
A worker stands waist deep in the pink water as he dumps salt into his boat for transportation in Lake Retba, Senegal, July 2015. 
A man uses a spade to dig through a giant pile of salt on the shores of Lake Retba, Senegal, in July 2015. 
Workers stop for a chat among the mounds of salt that will be packaged and sold to countries all around the world. 
Boats sit anchored in the pink waters of Lake Retba, ready to transport the salt back to shore. 
Two women work together as they carry buckets of salt on their heads at the lakeside. Transporting heavy loads by balancing them on their heads is a traditional practice of Senegalese women. 
A man carries salt back to his boat before it is ferried to shore. 
A man works to collect salt from the lake, as a boatman watches patiently on. 
A woman carries a bucket of salt on her head collected from a transport boat, which she will pour into one of the many salt piles on the shore. 
Boats for transporting salt line up on the shore of Lake Retba.
