Hundreds of miners paintings inside
an lively volcano right here in Indonesia,
fighting poisonous fumes all day long.
They're mining sulfur,
which locals call "devil's gold."
Working situations right here are so risky,
many miners do not stay beyond 50 years old.
Narrator: Miners like Mistar deliver as much as
2 hundred kilos of sulfur on their backs
up and down those steep cliffs.
And Mistar has been doing it for 30 years.
Narrator: The sulfur is utilized in everything
from fits and rubber to beauty merchandise.It's even what makes our sugar white.
Narrator: But maximum of the world's sulfur
comes from oil and fueloline refining,
making volcanic mines like this particularly obsolete.
Yet those miners are nevertheless running,
incomes approximately $12 to $17 a day.
Because on this far flung a part of Indonesia,
it is one of the higher paying jobs.
Narrator: So why is that this shape of sulfur mining nevertheless happening,and what makes this this type of volatile business?
Narrator: This is as a long way as Mistar can move on his bike.
There aren't anyt any roads to the crater,
so he has to stroll the relaxation of the way.
It's a 2-mile hike as much as the ridge of Ijen volcano.
He takes most effective his basket and a crowbar
down into the 1,000-foot-deep crater.
Narrator: Here, he faces the volcano's excessive environment.
The air can attain over one hundred levels Fahrenheit.
And he works close to one of the world's
maximum poisonous volcano lakes.
Narrator: And there may be the smoke.
Narrator: He battles kinds of sulfur smoke.
The first comes from deep in the volcano
and is channeled thru those pipes.
Narrator: While mining corporation PT Candi Ngrimbi
owns a license to run the mine,
the miners are freelance contractors,
in order that they need to pay for his or her personal gear.
And many can not come up with the money for fueloline mask.
Instead, they use handkerchiefs
or towels dipped in water
to hold the sulfur powder from sticking.
The 2nd kind of smoke is even greater risky.
It comes from the volcanic gases under the acidic lake,
and it is able to be deadly.
So if miners see huge clouds
of thin, white smoke coming from the lake,
they need to evacuate.
Narrator: That's why Mistar desires to get right here so early.
The winds select out up thru the day,
pulling greater white smoke toward the miners.
Both kinds of smoke have lasting fitness effects.
Narrator: But the smoke from in the volcano
is essential for sulfur production.
This is the way it works.
When the superhot smoke hits the cooler air outside,
it condenses liquid and drips off the pipe.
Narrator: As it solidifies and cools,
the sulfur will flip yellow,
and miners can start chipping off blocks.
that provide it the call devil's gold.
Miners use their naked arms to transport those blocks.
Although touching stable sulfur frequently
can purpose rashes and blisters,
Mistar says that so long as it is cool and yellow,
the sulfur is quality to touch.
Narrator: Pre-pandemic, the miners ought to extract up to twenty-five heaps daily,
however for the reason that 2020, they have been running in separate shifts
to socially distance.
That's decreased the miners' capacity
to most effective 10 heaps of sulfur a day.
Once he fills his baskets,
Mistar hoists them up on his shoulder to hike back.
But that sulfur isn't a mild load.
Narrator: That's approximately 154 kilos.
Mistar himself weighs simply 132.
Narrator: Some of the more youthful miners
can deliver as much as 2 hundred kilos in a single load.
Narrator: They need to haul it up the steep partitions of the crater.
Narrator: Some do the treacherous hike in flip-flops.
Narrator: Once he reaches the rim of the crater,
Mistar can switch the sulfur to his trolley
and start the two miles back.
And he's going to do that journey a 2nd time today.
Narrator: PT Candi Ngrimbi, the mining corporation,
additionally owns this weighing station
and the manufacturing unit in which the sulfur ends up.
At the manufacturing unit, people boil the sulfur
and run it thru a sequence of filters.
They need to do away with any contaminants
like sand or dirt.
Then they pour it out onto the manufacturing unit ground to cool.
The sulfur is loaded into sacks
and despatched to sugar factories nearby.
It's processed into sulfuric acid,
the world's maximum typically used chemical.
It's utilized in everything
from fits, fireworks, and gunpowder
to detergent, paper, and batteries.
It's what makes sugar white.
And it is an critical ingredient
in rubber merchandise or even winemaking.
But 98% of the world's sulfur
comes from oil and fueloline refining.
It's a byproduct of refining,
and oil corporations are required with the aid of using law
to method it safely.
What's created is lots of natural sulfur --
a purity this is necessary
for making merchandise like fertilizer.
Today, the sulfur enterprise from oil and fueloline
is really well worth almost $thirteen billion
and is anticipated to hold growing.
And it is left herbal mines and volcanoes unnecessary,
specially for the reason that mined sulfur isn't always as natural.
It may be acidic or incorporate sand.
Yet Ijen is one of the most effective locations left withinside the world
in which humans nevertheless mine sulfur this way.
So why do they do it, regardless of the danger?
For the mining corporation, it is less difficult and cheaper
to get sulfur from Ijen.
than different jobs at the island, including farming.
Narrator: The mining corporation will pay at the weight in their loads.
They get approximately nine cents according to kilo.
With loads, Mistar can make $17 a day.
The mining corporation did now no longer respond
to our request for comment
on why the miners are paid so little
for what is considered
one of the maximum risky jobs withinside the world.
Another viable purpose this mine remains open?
Tourism.
At night, site visitors flock right here
to peer the blue flame from the sulfur fueloline.
During the day, vacationers hike up
to take withinside the vistas.
Protected with their fueloline mask,
they watch miners paintings with out mask in their personal.
Some miners at the moment are turning into excursion guides
or making sulfur souvenirs,
however maximum hold running as they usually have.
Narrator: At the stop of the day, Mistar returns home
to consume dinner together along with his own circle of relatives and relaxation.
Ijen loons over them,
a image of ways Mistar affords for his own circle of relatives's lives,
A heavy weight to hold on his shoulders.
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