Summary and Motivation:
The Philippines are abundant in resources but it is still very poor. With adventurous methods poor people dig for the noble metal and using mercury to extract the gold, putting their health at risk and even sometimes paying with their life. The workers dive down to the ground of a hole to find gold while a compressor blows air through a plastic tube in their lungs. Up to 8 hours they work in this way dreading being buried by the hole collapsing.
I was always very shocked about the naivety of people in the western civilization. Most of us are not aware of other peoples living conditions, working for our wealth. Most of the Gold is used in the western world. Jewelry, Mobiles, Computers, there is a big industry using gold. My motivation is to tell the story about peoples live, their working and living conditions to make people aware of their situation.
Gold Diver:
The Philippines are abundant in resources: gold, copper, nickel.
However a large part of the population lives in poverty. Many people are driven by the vage hope of making a fortune in the gold industry. Thousands of people work in small cooperations of around 8-10 people. With adventurous methods they digg for the noble metal putting their health at risk and even sometimes paying with their life. One of the most dangerous conveyor techniques is compressor diving. A deep hole of up to six meters is dug into the earth and flooded with water. With untrustworthy and selfmade instruments one of the workers dives down to the ground of the hole. His helpers pull up the sack he fills with mud hopefully containing gold. A compressor blows air through a plastic tube to supply the diver with air and goggles protect the eyes from the mud. Up to 8 hours they work in this way dreading being buried by the hole collapsing. Meanwhile the others comb through the mud searching for crumbs of gold. But even this part is unbelievably dangerous as mercury is used to extract the gold and intoxicates people due to its steam within a radius of 10 meters.
In small villages like Dalas in the province of Camerines Norte, with a thousand inhabitants, 20 per cent work illegally in the gold digging industry. The local government tolerates this, nevertheless divers and their families live in constant fear that the compressor mining method will be forbidden. This would have a catastrophic effect as it is their only possible income. In other regions this type of work has already been prohibited, as too many accidents and even deaths have occured. However no fortune is earned in this industry. The daily income of approximately four euros is just about enough to ensure poor living standards.
©Fabian Fiechter